The Life and Times of Kikumaru Eiji
by Have Socks. Will Travel
Summary: Eiji wasn't always the smiling, bouncing ball of energy that the students and faculty of Seigaku now know. The History of Eiji and the people who shaped him into who he is now.
1. Chapter 1

**This is a retry of a story I started, messed up and then tried again (Which is the copy you see before you.) I'm trying to ease myself back into fanfiction after about a million year absence. I also have to ease myself back into POT—it's been equally as long since I've read/watched it. Bear with me and enjoy!**

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The Life and Times of Kikumaru Eiji

Chapter One

_We learn from history that we learn nothing from history_

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The road was a narrow and bumpy one. It was astounding that the charter bus, as bulky as it was, could squeeze around the hairpin turns without upending and throwing its occupants to their doom. The steep drop gave a view of the valley below which was just barely visible trough the shroud of fog and low lying clouds. The treetops only just peeked heads out of the cover of the black mist. The stars in the sky, however, were visible. The mountain top was far above the mist that lay on the valley floor and the bus was confronted by the whole sky.

But the inhabitants of the charter bus paid on heed to the fog twisting and turning about outside. The inside of the bus was quiet by the standard of occupants. They were not about their usual activities. Oishi was asleep near the front of the bus, his constant stream of worries silenced to the relief of all involved. In the back, usually quiet Taka didn't have his racket, so he was silently reading up on tips to make sushi. Fuji was staring blankly out the window, his customary smile still lingered on his face, giving the impression that he knew something unknown to all, which was probably true. He seemed to be the only one enjoying the fog outside and was probably deciding which angle would be the best if he were to take a picture with his trusty camera.

Kaido appeared to be asleep as well, his headphones jammed into his ears and strains of heavy metal rock could be heard drifting from them. Homework not complete Momo was scribbling furiously on a sheet of lined paper. By himself in the back of the bus, Inui was furiously scratching away in his notebooks, apparently trying to cross-reference the encyclopedia sized collection he had strewn across two cushy seats of the bus. No one dared look his way, for fear of the wrath of his newest creation.

In fact, Tezuka was the only one being remotely like himself. His eyes were closed behind his oval glasses and his hair was falling around his face. Since he was a man of little words, no one even noticed that their captain was asleep. Eiji also seemed to be acting like himself, although on a much quieter scale. He had seen that some of the others were asleep or studying and had decided that he would make the right choice and be quiet. Across the isle from Inui, he was talking quietly with Ryoma, who appeared to not be agreeing with whatever Eiji was saying.

"Eh!" Eiji cried, making the loudest noise he had made since Oishi had fallen asleep. "But why, Ochibi? Just believe me! Why won't you? Even ask Fujko! He'll tell you the truth, nya, Fuji?"

Both Eiji and Ryoma's heads turned to face the genius of their school. Fuji turned his head away from the foggy window he was looking out of and smiled at the two of them.

"Saa… It would depend on what I was supposed to tell the truth about." He said in simple tones.

Whooping, and accidentally rousing some from their sleep, Eiji pulled Ryoma from his seat and dragged him up to what some would consider Eiji's best friend. Standing behind Ryoma to keep the younger kid from bolting, Eiji looked expectantly down at the shorter boy. He motioned towards Fuji—an invitation to ask questions.

Ryoma turned to look at Eiji, as if deciding whether or not his leg was about to be pulled. Eiji grinned down at him, daring his Ochibi to ask Fuji the question they had just been bickering about. Ryoma looked down at his feet, twisted his ever-present cap back and forth on his head and then muttered something under his breath.

"Ah, Echizen-kun, I couldn't hear what you said," Fuji leaned forward, so as to hear his short teammate better.

Ryoma looked at Eiji for a few seconds, rolled his eyes and then turned to Fuji, muttering "Kikumaru-senpai has been telling me strange stories about his childhood and I don't believe them." He said it with a slight slur sound to his voice, as if ashamed to be asking. Eiji nudged him on with a well placed elbow to the shoulder and a "Nya!" of disapproval. How dare his Ochibi not believe him.

Inui, from across the bus, looked up from his notebooks, glasses flashing dangerously at the prospect of learning new information on his favorite subjects.

Fuji grinned, a smile slightly larger than his usual growing on his face. "And what is it that Eiji is telling you, eh?" Ryoma had the distinct impression that Fuji knew exactly what he was talking about.

Ryoma pursed his lips, thought for a second then shook his head. Shoving Eiji aside lightly, he marched to an ill-upholstered seat and sat, becoming very interested in the view outside. This sent the intended message to the regulars looking curiously at him, and they left him alone. Sighing, too, Eiji made his way back to his chair next to Oishi and sat down with a huff, cursing Ochibi for ruining his fun.

All too soon, the bus was quieter than it had ever been. The only sound came from the measured breathing of those asleep, Kaido's headphones and Inui's incessant pencil scratching.

Half an hour later, Ryoma's eyes flickered to Eiji. Magically, the ever bouncing ball of energy was asleep, head on Oishi's shoulder with a train of drool working its way down his chin. Momo was also sleeping—it appeared that his math homework was good for one thing: pillowing his head against the foggy window.

Sparing Eiji one final glance and thanking his lucky stars that his two most common annoyances were finally asleep, Ryoma turned to Fuji, who was still looking out of the window with the same mild interest he had shown in the beginning.

"Oi, Fuji-senpai," Ryoma called out softly.

Eyes lingering on passing trees for a few seconds, Fuji turned to look at the boy across the isle from him.

"Saa?" He said by way of answering.

"Urm… I don't really know how to ask this." Ryoma began. "But Kikumaru-senpai was lying today wasn't he? About his childhood?" Ryoma cringed, unwilling to believe he was actually curious about irritation-number-one.

"Echizen, I don't know what Kikumaru told you…" Fuji petered off at the end, inviting Ryoma to divulge what was frustrating and embarrassing him so much to ask.

Ryoma frowned and looked around the bus. Spotting Inui, who was trying and failing to appear as if he wasn't listening, Ryoma rolled his eyes and tried another tactic.

"Fuji-senpai," He began again, still wondering why he was trying so hard to figure out why Eiji was telling fish-tales. "You've known Kikumaru-senpai for a while, right? He's… always been like he is now, hasn't he? You know, happy and agitating…" Ryoma, too, let his voice die, appraising the face that his smiling senpai was giving him.

Without words, Fuji rose noiselessly and headed to the front of the bus. Inui and Ryoma's eyes followed him to where he stopped beside Eiji's seat. Squatting down, he unzipped Eiji's red backpack. Flipping efficiently through Eiji's disorderly backpack and pocketing a few snacks on the way, Fuji extracted, with a grunt, a wad of papers stapled together. Iuni made a note of this in his notebook, obviously finding something of significance in this event.

On his way back to his still-warm seat, Fuji dropped the packet of papers into the younger boy's lap. Startled, Ryoma, picked them up, took one glance at them and then turned to his teammate with questions written all over his face.

"It's an assignment from school." Fuji explained without waiting for the question that Ryoma would doubtlessly _not_ ask. "Our teachers asked us to write down our life histories. They're going to give them to us at graduation to see 'what chapters we've added onto our lives.' What you hold in your hands will without a doubt answer any questions you have about Eiji." After his miniature monologue was complete, Fuji gave a brief toothy smile then turned back to his window gazing.

Puzzled and slightly shocked to have the answered to his question answered in such a fashion, Ryoma looked down at the heap of papers one more time and, after shooting Inui an evil glare, he flipped past the cover page to began reading.

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**And so ends what I'm sure was the best first chapter of the best story you've ever read. **

**Oh dear readers, you have no idea how good it felt to finally sit down and write again. At first it was difficult to get back into character, but I hope I justly portrayed the wonderful characters in Prince of Tennis. However, I would like to note my somewhat negative attitude towards one Sadaharu Inui. My initial reaction to him during the show and books was that of extreme hate (…for some reason…) and I still haven't gotten over it. For this I am sorry, but for my individual voice to shine through, I must have one character to pick on and he was a prime candidate. So, if you love Inui, I first congratulate you on having affections for such an unlovable character, and secondly I beg your forgiveness and let you know that from here on out, he won't be in the story much, so you won't have to worry about little old me bashing him silly.**

**Aside from that, let me know if you see any typos, and as always: criticism, gushing and comments are welcome. Please! Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay! Second chapter! I hope you enjoy the beginning of Eiji's life. Just as an FYI, this will be read as a story from now on. This isn't actually what Eiji is writing, but rather what happened in the past. Just for those curious, and the people like me, who would be bugged by the sudden change in narration from what I expected. Cheerio! **

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The Life and Times of Kikumaru Eiji

Chapter Two

_There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in_

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Giving his straining suitcase zipper one final tug, Kikumaru managed, with a resounding grunt, to zip what seemed like his entire wardrobe into the suitcase he would be living out of for the next few days. Sighing a deep breath of relief, he heaved the bursting baggage off of his bed and let it drop with a clunk onto the hardwood floor of his bedroom. Taking a seat where his baggage had sat moments before, Kikumaru flopped onto his bed and stared up at his blank ceiling. At one time, so many weeks before, it had been covered from wall to wall with posters of whatever Kikumaru could get his hands. Movies posters to singers, magazine cutouts to sports stars—all were folded away in the large brown boxes that made up the décor of his room of late.

The mattress, bare and devoid of its usual blue sheets, itched his scalp through his short red hair—cut military buzz style—and threw the redness of his walls into sharp contrast. Sighing again, this time for different reasons, he looked from side to side, taking in his room for what he knew would be the last time. As he did so, he tried to picture everything as it had once been, but as his mood was too sour to host any positive reminiscing, it was a failed attempt.

"Eiji!" Came the call from down the stairs. It was his older sister, Michi, one of the twins, and the last person Kikumaru wanted calling to him while he was savoring one last moment alone in the confines of his bedroom.

"You need to hurry up and get down here." She continued in what Kikumaru recognized as her snobby, no nonsense voice. "The movers are here and mom says you'll just be underfoot if you stay up in your room."

Kikumaru sighed, flipped over on the bed, and tried to drone out his sister's high-pitched, whiney voice by sticking his thumbs in his ears and humming a tuneless melody. However, as her now incoherent voice raised in pitch and volume, Kikumaru realized with a start that Michi was standing outside his bedroom door, hands on her hips and her face the same color of the deep red hair cascading down her back. Angrily, she growled, shook her finger and said a few words that Kikumaru could now understand because of her close proximity.

"Mom says you have until the count of three." She warned, then turned and flounced delicately away.

"_You_ say I have until the count of three," Kikumaru mumbled then yelled "Bossy," out of his door before turning with a disgruntled pivot to gather his few belongings that weren't packed in the stack of uniform cardboard boxes.

Letting his suitcase hit every step on his journey down the stairs, Kikumaru slouched into the family room where his family stood in a circle and his mother was talking to the movers.

His family was a handsome one, though he would never admit to it. His oldest brother, Isamu smiled at Eiji from where he stood next to the couch. It was a welcoming, if sad smile—one he probably inherited from their father. Kikumaru ignored his brother's welcome and hovered anxiously in the doorframe, unwilling to come into the room with such a large collection of the Kikumaru family. As he looked around, however, Kikumaru counted heads—Mother, Father, Isamu the smiling, Michi the bossy and her twin brother Minoru—he realized that one member was missing. Unconcerned, he edged along the back wall and toward his front door.

However, as he did so, he was caught up with the tidal wave called the Kikumaru family as they too began a trek outside. Minoru caught him around the shoulders, but no matter how Kikumaru struggled, he couldn't escape from his brother's muscled grip. He wound up with his family outside on the grass—so as to be out of the way while the movers hustled their belongings out of the house and into the two awaiting trucks.

"Is it natural to have so much crap?" Minoru asked, finally letting go of his younger brother when they made it to the family pow-wow. His gaze was directed to the two moving trucks, a skeptical look covering his face.

"Certainly!" Michi chirped brightly as she ran fingers through her thick red hair. Minoru turned to his twin sister and gave her a bemused look.

"Oh!" He exclaimed, as if suddenly enlightened. "_You're_ coming too! That's why we need two trucks—one and a half for you and the other half for ourselves."

As Michi began hitting her laughing brother, their mother and a short, equally red-headed girl walked up to them. Giggling at her brother and sister's antics, the little girl, shorter than any eighth grader should ever be, ran up to her oldest brother who proceeded to sweep her up in his arms.

"Airi!" Isamu cheered and proceeded to spin the around in circles. Airi squealed and held onto her brother with all the might possible in her skinny arms.

Isamu blew in her face, kissed her cheek and then set his sister back down on the ground. "And how was your final sleepover in this town? Enjoyable?"

Airi nodded and looked around. As she did so she proceeded to answer Isamu's question with a more in depth answer. "It was great and I'm going to miss my friends, but I'll tell you—I'm excited to be headed to Tokyo!"

She frowned, pursed her lips and then turned to the eldest Kikumaru child. "Isamu? Where is Eiji?"

Isamu looked around his family circle and noticed for the first time that Eiji wasn't with them anymore. He shook his head, letting his sad smile play on his lip before hugging his little sister to him once more.

"He's probably at his fort, saying goodbye."

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Isamu's prediction was correct. Seconds after Minoru had let go of him, Kikumaru had casually and silently slipped away from his family in the silent way he had mastered so long ago.

He was sitting the fort he shared with his two best friends—Ken and Jin. The fort had started off as boredom on his part. When he first saw the bushes it was situated during the fourth grade, he hadn't met Ken and Jin yet, so he was a lonely child with no kids in the neighborhood his age to play with. Kikumaru had been kicking rocks around, trying to hit he leg of the swing set on the same lot, when he saw the bushes. They were a wild tangle—full of thorns and a mass of twisting branches. Suddenly, he had had an idea.

He had run home and grabbed some hedge clippers. Working furiously for the next few days, Eiji had managed to clear out a path to the center of the bush and also a small central place for him to sit in. He would return to his fort every day to add on to the place, adding things to do and interesting items in the little nooks and crannies of the bush fort.

By the time fifth grade rolled around, the bush had grown bigger and with it, the fort. It was a good thing too, because, while Kikumaru grew, so the number of people that visited to fort. Kikumaru, Ken, and Jin had decided that this was the perfect hideout for the boys. Jin, who came up with the idea after Kikumaru showed him the fort, also came up with another idea: to line the inside of the fort with cardboard so as to avoid the sharp thorns that caught at their skin every time they crawled into the fort. Scaffolding was clumsily built and the cardboard tacked on. The inside was carpeted with some old carpet that Ken's parents had given them when they had replaced the carpet in their own house. At nights, a soft yellow glow filled the fort with light from a lamp Kikumaru had been given by his mother and was powered by an extension cord that ran to the nearest streetlight. All in all, once inside, it was hard for Kikumaru to believe that he was outside. The only thing that gave it away was the bush's branches scratching on the cardboard and the sounds of traffic outside.

Kikumaru thought about all of these things and more as he looked around his fort. From down the road, Kikumaru heard his parents call for him, but he ignored them. He crawled over to the shelf that Jin had built in his sixth grade woodshop class. On it was a small picture in a wooden frame. The picture was of the tree boys: Kikumaru was smiling and the other boys making "L" shaped motions with their hands on their heads and frowning their toughest frowns. Kikumaru smiled and placed the picture back on the shelf. He gave the fort one last look around. If anything, he would miss this fort. Its wood, cardboard, and hidden entrance were like a second home to him. Gritting his teeth for reasons he didn't want to admit, Kikumaru turned off the lamp and exited his fort, crawling through the tight space towards the exit. Just as he reached the door to the outside, he turned his head for one last glance at his beloved play place. As he did so, a thorn from a vine nearby caught onto the bridge of his nose, tearing the skin just deep enough to bleed. Kikumaru grunted, wiping away the blood unceremoniously. He had gotten in too many fights to care about a little blood.

Kikumaru put the branches covering the secret entrance back into place. He didn't want other people to find the fort and he especially didn't want Ken and Jin to know that he had come back for a last look around. That, in their opinion, would be a sight of weakness and only the strong survived. Jin, Ken and Kikumaru were the strongest in the school—no weakness allowed.

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His parents were hovering around the moving vans, watching the proceedings and offering unneeded advice. The experienced movers simply ignored the family, and continued on with their business. His older siblings were clustered together with their friends, saying their final goodbyes. There were plenty of tears that disgusted Kikumaru, who knew that tears were for wimps.

Still, he was a bit disappointed that none of his friends could be here. Both of them were off, doing something at the moment. Ken was at a family reunion, much to his displeasure and Jin was at a summer camp—one of his mom's choice. The two were Kikumaru's best and only friends and they wouldn't be there to see him off. Although he wasn't moving out of Japan, Kikumaru didn't know when he would see them again. His father was moving them far away—at least it was far to and eleven-year-old's perspective.

In truth, Kikumaru's parents were glad that Jin and Ken hadn't made it to see their youngest child off. Kin and Jin, to state the facts, were not the best of influences on their son. As a boy, he had been so happy and always had a glowing smile on his face. As he got progressively older, the bright, cheerful smile had turned to a frown. The Kikumaru parents had been called in more times for Eiji than for the other four Kikumaru children combined. The family residence was a number on speed-dial in the principal's office. The one o'clock hour was known as the "KKJ hour", which was the appointed time that Ken, Jin, and Kikumaru—as he preferred to be called—were called in for reprimanding for their day's activities.

So seeing their youngest standing by himself on the corner of the lawn, kicking up dust, made the Kikumaru parents both happy and sad at the same time.

As the movers entered the house for the last time, the Kikumaru siblings bid farewell to their friends and gathered like sheep around their parents. Minoru called Kikumaru over—and he came unwillingly—and they began the process of loading up the cars.

Kikumaru ran his fingers through his short hair—there wasn't really much to run his fingers through, but it was a habit that he had picked up when he was smaller. The moment his mother was done with her pep talk, Kikumaru shot off to claim the front seat of one of the two family cars. Michi yelled after him about disrespect as they too walked down the grass and over to the cars parked in the road. Kikumaru's mother sat down in the driver's seat and looked over at him, waiting for his other siblings and Airi's dog to get into the car. It was then that she noticed her son's bleeding nose.

"Oh, Eiji dear! Your nose is bleeding."

Kikumaru shrugged wiped the blood running down his nose on his sleeve. His mother extracted a large box of band-aids out of her purse. Kikumaru groaned, but he allowed his mother to place a band-aid across the bridge of his nose.

"Ah, is baby Eiji hurt?" Minoru teased. Kikumaru turned around in this seat, an angry look in his eye, and began punching anyone and every one in sight. The whole rest of the trip consisted of the Kikumaru siblings bickering over who was on whose side, complaining that someone was pinching someone and the usual backseat squabbles. It didn't help that the dog insisted on stepping on and licking each person in the car. So the whole car full of people was very happy when the long four hour drive was over. Isamu and his father had had a very peaceful drive and were extremely surprised when the rest of the Kikumaru family tumbled out of the other car as if they were feral wolves.

On the drive, the family seemed to have lost the moving trucks, so while the parents waited outside to hail the trucks as they came around the corner, the children were allowed to look around their new home. The Kikumaru children had never been to their new house before. It was always their parents looking at houses—for obvious reasons,—so they were very curious to see what lay inside. The siblings walked slowly up the porch step and Isamu reach passed his sisters to slide the door open.

They were greeted by stairs leading up to the second floor on the left, along with a hallway on the right, leading to the kitchen and other rooms. Directly to their right, sharing the same wall with the front door, was a study. In a herd, the group walked through the door.

Separating from his siblings, Kikumaru ventured upstairs. Upon mounting the last step, he was faced with two options: go up another flight of stairs, or go down a hallway. Methodically, Kikumaru decided to explore this floor first, before taking an expedition up the next flight of stairs.

Kikumaru headed down the hallway in front of him. The hallways were well lit from windows on one whole side of the hallway. On the other side of the hallway were three doors, each with piece of paper pinned to the door.

"_Airi, Minoru, Michi_," Kikumaru read off to himself in his head. "_Hmmm… No Eiji or Isamu…_"

Kikumaru backtracked and headed up the carpeted stairs to the next level. The next floor was laid out in exactly the same pattern. He walked down the hallway again. The first door on his left was labeled "Kikumaru Family Rec Room." Kikumaru smiled at the notion. The Kikumaru family really did a rec room. With five kids plus all the friends they would make, it was the perfect place for the kids to hang out when they had nowhere else to go. Kikumaru looked at the next door down. It was his room. He slid the door open and walked in. The room was dark, but cheery, the walls painted the same ruby red as his room at home. _Old home_, he corrected.

"Well this is my house now. I'd better get used to this being my place," Kikumaru said to himself as he looked around the room. The space was large, and the closet stuck out just enough for a desk to be placed in the nook it created. The two windows at the end of the room allowed the early summer sun to fill his room with sunshine. Kikumaru frowned though, and backed out of his room. He went to the next and last room in the hallway. One the door, written in his mother's neat cursive, was Isamu's name. Kikumaru opened the door and stepped inside. Kikumaru was immediately aware of the difference. This room, being on the back of the house, had windows on two walls while the others only had them on one wall. The walls were painted the lightest blue—almost white—which seemed to make the room all the more bright. He looked around and sighed aloud.

A person behind him coughed. Kikumaru spun around—he had thought he was alone. Behind him was Isamu in all his tenth grade glory. Isamu smiled at him and pushed off from the wall that he had been leaning on. Kikumaru looked at him, his customary frown still on his face, though slightly surprised.

"Yo, Isamu, you get a look around?" Kikumaru asked, trying to mask his surprised at his brother being there.

"Kinda… I followed you in here." Isamu answered, bored.

"Oh…"

Silence fell on the room when Isamu had nothing to say. Kikumaru squirmed. He didn't like uncomfortable silences, although he never told Ken and Jin that. To repress his urge to scream, Kikumaru looked around.

Isamu looked at his bother fondly. Everyone in the Kikumaru residence knew that Isamu had a super soft-spot for his baby brother.

"Eiji?" Isamu called. He smiled wider when his brother's bandaged nose and face turned his way. Isamu was glad that, though he had been called Kikumaru all of his sixth grade year, Eiji still responded to his given name.

"Eiji, you like this room better, don't you?"

His baby brother looked around the room comparing it to his own assigned room and then nodded.

"Well," Isamu began. "You know, I don't like blue. You could have this room. I'm sure Mom and Dad wouldn't mind."

Kikumaru grinned slightly and almost squealed. He walked over to Isamu and gave him a hug. Isamu wrapped his arms around his brother's small frame and blew on the top of Kikumaru's head, making his red hair that the family shared, wave in the gentle air. Over the top of his brother's head, he saw the moving truck pull up. Cheers could be heard from outside as the oversized trucks, bearing the Kikumaru family belongings to their new home in Tokyo.

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**Sorry this was so long and without much action. However, I just wanted you to get a feeling for who Eiji is as of right now. Basically he's a good kid trying to be bad because that's what his friends were doing.**

**Also, if you are like me and have the hardest time remembering characters that are introduced, here is a handy overview/cheat sheet for you:**

**Isamu**: Oldest brother. 10th grade

**Michi**: Oldest sister. A twin. 9th grade

**Minoru**: Middle brother. A twin. 9th grade

**Airi**: Youngest girl. 8th grade.

**Ken and Jin**: Eiji's bad-influence best friends.

**Eiji**: Well, you know all about him. :D

**FYI: I don't think that the following chapters will be so OC (Well.. kind of OC) intensive, but Eiji's family had to have names. C:**

**Thank you for reading and, please, **_**review**_**! (Especially with any kind of typo mistake, because I was reading through it one last time before posting it and I found millions of typos to fix. I may have overlooked an uh-oh in the wrath of my editing fury!)**


	3. Chapter 3

_Oh, dear readers! Here is chapter three! Sorry that this update took so long to write, but I am taking final exams for my first semester classes, so my life has been full of studying. However, writing is soothing, so I find myself gravitating towards my computer closer and closer I get to my math exam. See, Math and I are not the best of friends. But my computer and I are, so, hopefully you'll be hearing from me more often_. :D

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**The Life and Times of Kikumaru Eiji**

Chapter Three

_The horizon leans forward, offering you a space to place new steps of change_

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Life in the new Kikumaru family residence was hectic from the get-go. While Kikumaru had expected his new life to be humdrum and grey, the first day at the house brought forth more hassle, bustling, and noise than he ever thought possible. In a way, it was a comforting start to what he _knew_ was going to be a terrible new place, though he would never tell anyone he thought so.

Left up to their own devices, ("_Miraculously_," said the parents) the movers had managed to place things in their proper place and within a few hours, boxes were moved from the two trucks and placed in the correct room. Always thinking ahead, Isamu had remembered to switch name tags on his and Eiji's door, so, after returning to his room from his tour of the rest of the house, Kikumaru was startled to find the familiar boxes clogging up his doorway. The furniture was placed in a cluster near the far corner, where the two windows met, and his bed was set up, mattress included, across the room. Shutting the door behind him, Kikumaru began the methodical business of unpacking.

First, of course, came down to where to place the furniture. After a few grunting moments, Kikumaru stood back to survey his work—when he found it satisfactory, he slid the first box over to his newly placed bed and tore the tape off of the box. Slowly, he began to wade through every item that he had ever owned. He was startled to find so much—but no matter what happened, he was determined not to get sentimental.

* * *

By the time night fell on the new abode of clan Kikumaru, the noise level had declined to that on par with a group of snoring of lions. Most of the kids were tucked up in their rooms, rifling through their possessions and placing things away in an orderly fashion. Minoru, for his part, was perched on Kikumaru's bed, bugging his little brother with his incessant chatter. He was more like his twin sister than he thought.

"The only thing that really bites about this new town is the lack of sporting facilities in the local vicinity." He huffed as he twirled a chunk of yarn attached to Kikumaru's comforter. "How am I supposed to make the school team if I don't keep up practice?"

Kikumaru furled his eyebrows—in all honesty, he didn't get his brother's obsession with sports. After all, only those _trying_ to be cool played sports, right? Didn't Minoru know that the pecking order was predetermined anyway?

"Baseball is baseball," Kikumaru answered vaguely, ripping open his fourth box of the day. He had expected to blow through all of the boxes that day, but seven more giant packages loomed down at him, promising at least another day of unpacking pain. Somehow, his mother had managed to get the whole kitchen unpacked—it might have had something to do with the methodical way she had packed at the old place. Kikumaru, picked everything off of his floor and shoved it into one box—it wasn't a box he was looking forward to finding—then had lost steam and slacked off. Everything else had managed to land purchase in one of the other boxes when he had moodily packed them a few days before the move, after being threatened with no TV.

"Baseball is more than baseball." Minoru told Kikumaru, drilling sharp blue eyes into his younger brother's head. "When you find a sport you love more than you love picking on people, you'll understand."

Kikumaru scoffed then hurried his brother out of his room, making sure to lock the door after him. Turning when he shut the door, he spotted the seven and a half boxes he still had to unpack. Grimacing, and a growing moodiness beginning to sprout in him, he decided to give up for the night. With a hop, he landed in bed, fully clothed. The moment the sheets were over his head, his mental light was snuffed and he fell asleep.

* * *

He awoke, what seemed like moments later, to a continual rapping noise on his bedroom door. Groaning inwardly, he poked his head out of its downy covering. Sunlight streamed into his eyes, and he blinked it away like dust, trying to gain his bearings. Slowly, it all came back to him—that he was at his new house, in his new room, in his new town, and that was his same old mother, hammering on his door, telling him to rise and help her unpack downstairs.

Groaning, this time audibly, he got out of bed and stood in the middle of his room. He wondered why in the word his mother didn't just barge in already like she always did, but his question was soon answered.

"Eiji!" His mother stated again. "I really need your help. You have until the count of fifteen to get this door unlocked."

She started counting loudly, and, upon hearing his own dear sisters joining it, Kikumaru decided it would be far too painful to spend the day in this house. Pulling open his window on his mother's count of three, he was dropping down the rain gutter by six, closing the window behind him, and by the time his mother and sisters reached ten, he was on the lower part of the roof, above the garage. The driveway wrapped around the back to meet up with the garage, which Kikumaru was relieved to find—it wasn't that long of a drop, with the rain gutter's help of course, from _his_ window to the awning above the garage. From the garage, he needed only to swing on the basketball hoop and land in the soft grass. That done, happily, Kikumaru trotted off, barefoot and pleased to have found his escape route.

* * *

Setting off in any direction had worked well for the first five minutes. There was so much to see in his new town—so much so that he actually stopped his trot to a walk to take it everything in. He had come from a small town, so this was like big city life to be walking around as he was. His eyes slid from storefront to storefront, eyes beginning to glaze with the effort of trying to take everything in.

After nearly being hit by a sixth grader on a green bike, Eiji was snapped back into being and looked around with a level head for the first time. The first thing he realized was that he had no idea where he was. The second was that he didn't care. It would be a better excuse for his mother—he was lost in the city while he explored in the morning. He'd figure out a way home later.

He spotted a bike that wasn't tied up to anything, so he hopped aboard and decided to follow a blue car to where ever it was headed. Locals knew the way around town best, and the car was a mini-van, which hinted that it might be headed toward a place that kids his age would enjoy. Peddling furiously, Kikumaru dogged the mini-van, pushing his endurance to the limit. The mini-van would pull ahead to almost out of sight, and Kikumaru would despair, thinking that his guide had abandoned him. Then, the stop-light ahead of the car would turn red and he would be given enough time to catch up.

The van pulled off the main road it had been following onto a less busy, tree lined road. A few seconds later, it pulled into a parking lot. Kikumaru didn't wait to see who got out of the car, but instead, sprinted forward on his bike and parked it in the bike rack along side the parked cars.

The place he had arrived at seemed to be the community parks and recreation fields. Even so early in the morning, he heard the sounds of activity. Slipping barefoot up the sidewalk that ran through the fields, Kikumaru realized that the fields were extensive: Though occasionally he heard the _clink_ of a baseball hitting bat, he had yet to spot the baseball fields.

The green grass on his left appeared to be reserved for soccer. A few kids, a little older than him, were passing a speckled ball back and forth and there were calls of "Go Misaki-san" from where a few younger children stood on the sideline. Kikumaru scoffed, not understanding why the kids were making such a fuss over some lousy ball kicking. He stepped off the white-sidewalk and went over to a group of elementary students and stole their ball from them, ignoring their cries of displeasure. Slowly, and surprisingly, to himself, he dribbled the ball up the field and shot it at the goal. It bounced off the goal post, and he furrowed his eyebrows. That was not supposed to happen. He retrieved the ball and started from the same spot he first started. The result was the same, hitting the post in the exact same spot. Along the sidelines, the kids he stole the ball from started laughing at his attempts. Blushing, rather than aim the ball towards the goal for a third attempt, Kikumaru chucked the ball into the air, jumped, and kicked the ball. It landed in the stomach of one of the children, who fell to the ground from the impact.

From the opposite field the two more experienced players blinked in surprised—not because of Kikumaru's aim at the kid, but at the way he contorted his body to kick the ball. The move he had just pulled was the move they were practicing that very moment. They weren't sure what to think.

* * *

Kikumaru continued his wanderings, very angsty because of the lack of talent he showed when it came to soccer. His belief that sports were for losers was rekindled with every angry step he took away from the goals and cheers of the soccer players. His wandering took him past lacrosse fields, sand volleyball courts and a swimming pool, all to which he only gave an uppish and snobby look.

He reached a swing set atop a hill, pushed a kid off a red swing, and began pumping with much fervor. Soon he was flying through the air back and forth. The motion seemed to skim off some of his pent up unhappy feelings, and soon, he was feeling on top of the world. Still, he continued to swing.

From his vantage point on the hill, he was able to see most of the surrounding area. The layout of the park unfolded before him, and it appeared that the whole collection of fields seemed to circle the hill he was sitting on. He saw the soccer goals to the far left and he scrunched his nose. He followed the sidewalk with his eyes and was soon looking off to his right. It was then he saw something on the horizon that surprised him.

It was his house. He would know it anywhere, what with the two chimneys and the blockish nature of the build. It was painted the same white with black shutters and if he squinted hard enough, he was able to see his parents' cars parked in the driveway. If he guessed right, he had circled the park when he had been walking in the city, and then had followed the car to the entrance near the soccer fields, which was the farthest from his house.

Deciding he had been gone for far too long, he hopped off the swing and decided to explore the rest of the park before he headed home. He trotted down the hill, not entirely by choice, but more due to the steep decline he was faced with, and turned right. Immediately to his left were four baseball fields, which Kikumaru tucked away as a note to tell Minoru—_if he's ever being especially nice to me_, Kikumaru added mentally.

He continued to run down the trial, his bare feet starting to burn on the hot pavement. He spotted a bunch of chain-link up head, and guessed that the park was coming to an end. His house was certainly becoming larger.

There was a hollow thudding sound that grew in magnitude as he approached the chain link. He stopped for a second to catch his breath, grabbing onto the chain-link for support. All of the sudden, there was an exploding pain in his fingers, and he let go of the fence, spluttering. A yellow ball bounced away from his fingers—a tennis ball he realized. His family had had a huge collection of them in their attic before they moved. He wasn't sure what had happened to them in the move.

"Oh!" Came a cry, and then a shuffle of feet. Kikumaru looked up from his throbbing fingers, and immediately was accosted by a pair of coal-black eyes. Blinking back surprise, he tore his eyes away from the other pair and focused on the rest of the face.

It was a smiling one, although currently its forehead was creased with lines of worry. Round, rosy cheeks and dimples were framed by short brown hair, held back by twin pigtails. Kikumaru was stopped from further examination by a question directed at him.

"Are you okay?" The girl asked through the fence. She pointed to his hand, which he was cradling in the other. The girl was about his age, Kikumaru decided, and she looked oddly familiar.

"Oh, yeah," Kikumaru answered, dropping his injured hand and putting it behind his back. "Just barely got me, but it's really nothing." In all reality, it wasn't.

"Oh, good." The girl breathed a sigh of relief and a smile returned to her face. "Mukahi-kun can hit pretty hard, huh."

"Mukahi?" Kikumaru asked, but was spared any further wondering, as a boy with the same red hair as Kikumaru, also about his age, appeared behind the girl.

"This kid bothering you Dina?" He asked the girl.

"I'm not a kid," Kikumaru answered before Dina could get a word in. "I'm pretty sure we're in the same grade."

"What's your name? What grade are you in?" The willowy boy challenged. "What school do you attend?"

"Kikumaru Eiji!" Kikumaru puffed out his chest. "Seventh grade this coming school year." Kikumaru faltered on his school name, trying to remember what his parents had told him. "Seishun Academy!"

Dina looked at Kikumaru strangely. "Kikumaru?" She asked, but the boy cut in.

"I'm Gakuto Mukahi and this is Hiroshi Dina. We both go to Hyotei and are in the seventh grade." The boy interrupted. He looked closely at Kikumaru, as if apprising him and wondering why Dina suddenly seemed so interested in him.

"Ah," Kikumaru intoned. He had hoped that Dina would be attending his school—she seemed nice. But unfortunately, she was already paired up with the boy with the unfortunate haircut and going to school at a mystery school called _Hyotei_.

However, the unfortunate haircut boy didn't seem to be done with him. For some reason, he seemed to be infuriated by Kikumaru, with whom Dina had struck up a conversation.

"I challenge you to a tennis match!" Gakuto cried out suddenly. Kikumaru blinked, cut off in mid-sentence.

"What?" He spluttered.

"I challenge you to a tennis match." Gakuto said again, as if reassuring himself of the plan that appeared to have just popped into his head.

"Um… no…" Kikumaru answered. "I… Don't even have a tennis racquet." He didn't want to appear weak or strange to Dina, who obviously loved tennis.

"That's fine! You can use mine!" Dina answered, killing Kikumaru's final hope that she would step in and save him. He had never even attempted to play tennis before. "I need a break anyway."

That said, she ran over to the door in the fence and opened it. Sinking feeling growing, Kikumaru traveled around the fence and entered the court. The skinny boy had already taken his position across the net. Dina handed Kikumaru her racquet, a Dunlop, and winked at him.

"Good luck Kikumaru Eiji."

He nodded, and grabbed the racquet. Instantly, something felt right, and a tingly feeling ran up the length of his arm.

He took a spot in the court, not really sure what he was supposed to be doing.

"Do you want to serve," Gakuto asked, "Or shall I?"

"Um… I guess you can," Kikumaru faked indifference. In all reality, he had no idea what he was doing.

The boy, before Kikumaru was ready, threw the ball up in the air and hit it, aiming it to land in one of the middle squares, whatever they were called. Reflexively, Kikumaru ran to hit the ball back. Before long, there was a volley going on between the two red heads, both beginning to work up a sweat. Dina called out both names, back and forth, cheering both of the boys on.

The ball hit off Gakuto's racquet at an odd angle and a lob was sent Kikumaru's way. Without thinking, Kikumaru jumped into the air, but finding that he wasn't high enough to hit the ball, he let himself fall, used the force of his bounce, and rocketed into the sky again. This time he was high enough, and he smashed the ball down, right were he aimed it, in the corner of Gakuto's field of play.

Dina cheered and clapped her hands. Kikumaru landed back on the ground, panting. He wasn't sure what had happened, but it felt good. Dina squealed with delight and ran over to Kikumaru with a water bottle and towel, hugging him as she did so.

"That was amazing!" She exclaimed in her high pitched voice.

Gakuto was on the other side of the net, looking speechless. Kikumaru smirked his way, over Dina's shoulder. An angry look crossed the other boy's face and his cheeks turned the color of his hair.

Suddenly, he was yelling at Kikumaru. "He doesn't have any shoes on. He's breaking the rules!" He pointed at Kikumaru's bare feet and began hopping around. "Rule breaker, rule breaker rule breaker!"

Kikumaru clenched the racquet in his hand hard enough to make his knuckles white. A ball rolled toward his foot and had the sudden urge to hit it at the jumping boy. Dina saw his fist and grabbed his hand. "Kikumaru." She warned. "He's not worth it."

She looked over at Gakuto, who was still doing his irritating dance around his side of the net. She looked down at his feet. "But you really should wear shoes. I have a scar on the bottom of my foot from stepping on a rock on the court." She gave him a twinkling laugh, suddenly cheerful again.

Kikumaru too looked down at his bare feet and wiggled his toes. He nodded at Dina, agreeing.

"I guess you're right!" He cheered, happy—it was a weird feeling, but oddly, he liked it.

He exited the court and Dina followed him to the edge.

"Come back soon Kikumaru!" She cheered as left.

And come back he did.

* * *

_Yay! Appearances of regulars! Actually, two regulars appeared in this! Gakuto and… WHO!!!! Whoever can tell me who showed up gets the next chapter dedicated to them! It's near the beginning!_

_Oh! If anyone is interested (or confused) I'd be willing to post an amateur map, drawn by me, showing how Eiji's house relates to everywhere else in the world. It'd probably grow as the story does, so if that'd help you, let-eth me know!_

_So, just and FYI for those interested, I finished my math test, so I have a brief reprieve before I have to go back to school (huzzah!) and I should be able to crank out another chapter in the short time. Then again, I thought I'd get this chapter out a lot faster than I did, so, for now, the next chapter update will be a mystery!_

_Review, pwease! If you review, I'll never talk in a baby voice again!!!!!!!_


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter four, baby! I'm on a roll (or so I'd like to think. Please do not tell me otherwise. C: ) I'd also like to announce that I managed to pull off the impossible and actually got an acceptable grade in math—Not up to my usual standards, but it's was best that I could have hoped for! Huzzah!_

_Also, for those wondering, I will now tell you who the other tennis regular was: It was Momoshiro! He almost ran Eiji over with his bike near the beginning of the chapter. Congrats to those who guessed correctly. Oh, and just as a disclaimer for the last chapter, I'd like to tell everyone that I used a character from another manga—_Captain Tsubasa_—during the soccer scene—A treat if anyone reads that manga. I'll probably end up tying in a lot of sports mangas. Yay!_

_Oh, info: "_hahaoya_" means "mother" in the informal way. I'm used to seeing_ Okaasan_, which is the more polite way to say mother, but Kikumaru isn't too polite at this point in time. Just thought I'd let you know!_

_Another thing: this was a really quick update; I wouldn't count on this quick in the future. I just so happen to have six days off of school, so I have giant chunks of time in which I have nothing to do. I have a stocked second semester coming up starting Tuesday, so I'll settle myself into a once-a-week updating pattern. Hopefully..._

* * *

**The Life and Times of Kikumaru Eiji**

Chapter Four

_The expert and anything was once a beginner_

Dedicated to: **Glowstarducky**. Excellent job—I never would have found it.

* * *

Box after box, Kikumaru unpacked, wishing with all of his might that his mother and her infernal boxes would just disappear. But on they came—for two weeks straight—and Kikumaru had the distinct impression that his entire summer would be spent with his head in a box or cupboard, shelving away the whole of his family's worldly possessions.

He wasn't the only one having a rough time of it, though. Minoru was especially cranky and when he found out that half of his baseball card collection had been trashed by accident, he wasn't a person that any of the family wanted to be near. So instead he sulked around the house, giving the whole building a dark aura, so strong was his personality.

Michi was sharing the same vibes that her twin brother gave off; they were connected with a sort of twin connection—their mental wavelengths seemed to be in synch so to say, and her usually perky personality was dulled down to a snappy response every once and a while. This meant her usual chatter was hushed; Kikumaru felt this improved his sister, for the first little while she was like this. But as she continued to sulk through the day, the quietness of the house began to be disorienting.

After what seemed like this trillionth box, Kikumaru managed to sneak under his mom's arm and ran out the kitchen door into the garage. Making as little noise as possible, he rooted around through boxes, trying to find what he knew was located somewhere on the house lot.

His family, however, seemed to have shoved whatever boxes they couldn't handle into the garage, so his search was a slow and difficult one; before he was able to start on his third box, his mother appeared at the doorway and called him back inside citing her inability to move a couch without help. Kikumaru groaned—he had moved that couch a near twenty times and had dropped it on his foot near the same number—but followed his mom inside.

He picked up his end of the couch and started walking backwards towards where his mother wanted the piece of furniture.

"Hey, _hahaoya_," He asked. His mother looked at him, eyes momentarily pulled away from her destination.

"Yes Eiji?" She answered, distracted.

"Um… Do you know where I can find those tennis racquets that you picked up a while ago?" Kikumaru asked, after dodging a potted plant in the middle of the room.

"They'd probably be out in the garage. They're not in a box though—I remember they were just thrown on top of your brother's baseball stuff." She smiled at her youngest son. "Why? Are you interested in playing tennis?" She set down her end of the couch and Kikumaru followed suit.

"Um…" Kikumaru didn't really want his mother to why he wanted the tennis racquets—he had hated sports for so long and he wasn't going to give up that image. He knew that there would be no end to the teasing his parents would give him. "Thanks _Okaasan_," He said abruptly, and then rushed out of the living room and up the stairs.

His mother smiled then leaned forward on the couch, shaking her head, a glimmer of hope starting to grow up inside of her. Her son wasn't a bad boy—just caught up in a silly notion that his current personality was who he was supposed to be. It was at times like these that she appreciated to see some of her son's true character shine through—it confirmed her assumption that this move would help her son immensely.

* * *

That night, while his family was settling into their respective beds, Eiji made his way down the two flights of stairs on a covert mission to procure his tennis racquets. Airi was in the shower—he was able to tell because of the music that was blasting over the sound of her shower. The way down the stairs was easy—that much he had expected. But when he reached the garage, he faced his biggest problem.

It appeared that his garage was a box graveyard where all rejected boxes came to rest. Even though he knew that the tennis racquets weren't in a box, his search was still hindered by the magnitude of the boxes. He wandered down isle after isle of walls formed by brown cardboard. He dug into grooves between the towers and searched in corners, uncovering only spider webs and a pair of lonely gardening gloves. Well into an hour later, Kikumaru gave up hope: he had scoured every inch of the garage with no luck. He left the garage and shuffled back up the stairs.

Minoru was in the shower now—rock music blared out from the bathroom. Every Kikumaru favored a different kind of music, so it was easy to tell who was using the shower at a particular time. One simply had to listen to the music of choice coming forth from the in-shower CD player that was a staple at any Kikumaru abode.

Kikumaru was a bit heart broken that he hadn't found the tennis racquets, but decided that it wasn't worth it to feel the way he did. After all, tennis was a sport, and sports were dumb anyways, right? He was stupid to even try to look for the things because they didn't mean anything to him. He kept chanting mantras of the same sort to himself as he climbed the stairs. By the time he got to his room, he felt a lot better and was ready to go to bed. He'd probably write Ken and Jin, his two best friends, a letter tomorrow, telling them how dumb this new town was and that there was nothing to do here.

Kikumaru pulled open his bedroom door, grabbed his pajamas and rushed to the bathroom on the third floor before Isamu could start to use it. He hopped in and showered in silence—something he had always done and that his siblings couldn't understand.

A few minutes later, he stepped out of the shower, steaming. He stared at himself in the mirror, waiting while his towel soaked up whatever moisture didn't drip onto the floor. He was surprised to see the band aid still stuck to his nose. Straining to remember how it had got there, he remembered that his mother had stuck it there after he had ripped his skin on his, Jin, and Ken's fort. He ripped the band aid off his nose and looked down at it. In a way, this ratty bandage was the only memory he had of his friends. He surveyed his nose, hoping that the skin had scarred, but, thanks to his young body, his skin had been returned to flawlessness, aside from a small scab, but even that was shrinking.

Almost frantically, Kikumaru thought about how much changing was happening. He didn't want to forget about Jin and Ken. He didn't want them out of his life, but he had no way of remembering them, now that his stupid nose was healing. Then, he spotted a box of band aids on his counter—they didn't seem to have a place yet in the craziness of unpacking—and had an idea. Chucking his soggy band aid into the trash, he ripped open another bandage and placed it over the bridge of his nose—it would be there as a constant reminder of the people he left.

That completed, Kikumaru noticed that he was shivering—curse his parents for keeping their house chilled to such unnatural temperatures—so he quickly got into pajamas, brushed his teeth and trouped down the hall to his room. His hair, as short as it was, was wet and with the added chill of the freezing house, his blankets seemed very appealing.

He slid open his door and prepared to hop into his bed. But before he was able to bury himself in their warmth, he spotted something on his bed that halted him in his tracks. Moving forward, he went to examine whatever was hogging up his bed space.

The clod was four or five tennis racquets, all taped together with the mover's heavy duty tape. He sat down on his bed and pulled the racquets onto his lap, using his teeth to bite through the brown tape. He succeeded, and soon, he had picked out a racquet that felt normal—to his inexperienced touch—in his hand. Placing it under his window, next to a pair of worn tennis shoes, a tennis ball nestled in each, Kikumaru climbed back into bed. A pink sticky note fluttered off his bed and landed on the floor.

* * *

The next morning, Kikumaru was up before his alarm clock rang. Moving noiselessly, Kikumaru tiptoed over to his alarm clock and flipped it off. It was only 8:00 in the morning, but still his entire family was dead to the world, stuck in the Kikumaru sleep of death. He dressed, then, pulling the tennis balls out of his shoes and placing them in his pockets, Kikumaru proceeded to yank his sneakers onto his feet. As quietly as he could, Kikumaru opened his window, slid down the drain pipe, racquet under arm. Then he tossed the racquet onto the grass, flipped off the basketball hoop, and scattered, grabbing the racquet as he went.

Relying mostly on an innate ability to point himself in the right direction, Kikumaru was able to locate the courts with little problem. He was surprised how close the facilities were to his house, and wondered if his family knew about them. Judging from the fact that Minoru had yet to play baseball, Kikumaru was doubtful.

For such a time in the morning, the park was bustling, full of morning walkers and parents dropping pesky kids off for a day of relaxation to themselves. Kikumaru clutched his racquet nervously, suddenly unsure of himself. He was no good at sports—why was he here? He looked at a few of the children on the courts and noticed a practiced quality about the way they swung their racquets. Who was he kidding—he was just Kikumaru Eiji, good at nothing. He wasn't like his brother, Minoru, baseball extraordinaire. He wasn't like his sister, Michi, super friendly and always talking. He wasn't like Isamu the steadfast, and he wasn't like Airi the ever willing. No, he was just Eiji, a good for nothing kid.

He was about to turn around and leave, when he heard his name being shouted. He turned, wondering who in the world would be calling for him, and _more over_, who in this town would know his name.

"Kikumaru!" The voice called, cheerfully. It was Dina, running towards him, her always cheerful face shining like a beacon in the sun.

Kikumaru turned to face her, scratching the back of his head. "Oi, Hiroshi." He said as she jogged up.

"Dina. Call me Dina," She insisted, holding up a finger as if to scold him.

"Ah…" Kikumaru answered, not really knowing what to say. "Dina… that's kind of a weird name."

Dina scoffed, and then looked at Kikumaru, puzzled. "Do you really not remember?"

Kikumaru shifted his eyes from the ground to her face, a perplexed look covering his own. "Remember? Remember what?"

Dina shook her head. "Ah, nothing, Kikumaru. We all have our secrets." She winked as she smiled. She took his hand and dragged him onto an empty court. "I'll share a secret with you though—I don't like my name. Dina is a nickname I made up so I didn't have to answer to my given name." She grinned mischievously, and Kikumaru couldn't help but smile back, conspiratorially.

She positioned herself on the other side of the net and tossed Kikumaru a high ball. He jumped and caught it. Looking down at it, he frowned slightly. Obviously she wanted to play tennis with him. There was only one problem: he had no idea how to play tennis. For the first time in his life, he wished he had participated in the free lessons his community had offered in his old town. He looked up at Dina, and realized that she was a perfect opportunity. He started to bounce the ball on the strings of the racquet and called over to Dina.

"I have a secret too." He confided, wiggling his eyebrows, trying to down-play his secret as much as possible.

"Oh, and what is that," She giggled, starting to wiggle her eyebrows too. It was a failed attempt, as only one of the pair moved.

Kikumaru laughed and then spilled. "I have no idea how to play tennis."

Dina's eyes widened in surprised, but she collected herself. "Well then, _kohai_," Dina replied, still trying to wiggle her eyebrows. "Your _senpai_ has a lot to teach you."

"Ah, _arigato_." Kikumaru clenched his racquet and felt his spirits soar. There hadn't been any teasing _and_ he was going to learn about something that interested him. And maybe, just maybe, he had found his first friend in this new town.

* * *

For the next few days, Kikumaru met with Dina every morning to practice tennis. Dina seemed to enjoy the arrangement, and lorded over Kikumaru with an iron fist. But Kikumaru appreciated every second of it, and felt himself improving with every unofficial lesson. For once in his life, he felt as if he was accomplishing something, and while this was a comforting thought, it was also disheartening. If such a simple thing as tennis (simple in theory—he was realizing daily that tennis was more complex than it appeared) made him feel accomplished, what did that say about his past. Was his past with Ken and Jin all a waste of time? The small part of him that said yes was pushed away quickly.

His mornings turned out to be the highlight of his day, and these highlights carried over, so he was happier at home. His parents never asked what he was doing every morning that made him come home at lunch time. They trusted their son's character, and whatever he was doing was obviously beneficial. For Kikumaru's part, he could care less what his parents thought. His life had a purpose now, and he looked forward to sliding down his drainpipe every morning and running off to the smiling face of Dina and the friendly chatter that she brought, along with, of course, _tennis_.

So it was a shocker when one day, Dina didn't show up.

* * *

_Cliffhanger! Or, half-a-cliffhanger. I don't know if that ending technically counts as a cliffhanger._

_In any case: Yay! Eiji's first band-aid explained. Now how did he get to the second? Find out in later chapters! (For those of you unfamiliar with young Eiji, he always had a bandage across the bridge of his nose. At least in the anime—I'm kinda drawing a blank when it comes to the manga… ah, well.)_

_Oh, and do ya'll have any good ideas about why Eiji should always be brushing his teeth and enjoy it so? I had it planned out at one point, but it has escaped my mind. No matter how hard and long I think, it's not coming back. It's gone the way of many socks—lost with no explanation._

_For those in need of it, I have posted a map of the park on my profile. Please use at your leisure. C:_

* * *

**Glossary **(Just in case. I try to keep it simple, as I don't speak Japanese either. Some things just have to be said in Japanese for it to have the correct affect.)

_Hahaoya_: Mother, Just in case ya'll forgot.

_Okaasan_: Mother, polite version

_Kohai_: roughly translates to protégé

_Senpai_: mentor; elder

_Arigato_: thank you_. Hopefully you knew this…_


	5. Chapter 5

_One word for my life: death. Yep. My social life has died with the start of my new classes._

* * *

**The Life and Times of Kikumaru Eiji**

Chapter Five

_I put all of my genius into my life; I put only my talents into my works_

Dedicated to: SlyShadow13—you're amazing!

* * *

The night before Dina didn't show up—well, to say the least, it hadn't been a good one.

The foul mood that Kikumaru went to bed with was started by the dinner. Of course his mother had to pick something spicy and utterly uneatable for dinner after much prodding and nudging from his sister Airi. Kikumaru suffered through the meal in a dark silence, pushing his spicy fish around his plate and burying some of the more disgusting things under a mound of rice. His disinterest in the meal was helped along by the fact that, once dinner was over, his mother would give him a letter that Jin and Ken had sent. Kikumaru had been waiting for what seemed like eons to his seventh grade brain, and now a few measly carrot chunks and a pile of nameless other foodstuffs lay in the way of his prize.

Finally, the laborious meal over with, Kikumaru walked away from the table with the letter held jovially between his first two fingers. He was hoping that the letter he carried would be the key to unlock his foul mood—he was finding that such a mood wasn't as enjoyable as he once found them. Inwardly, he wondered how on earth he could have stood them for so long.

Closing himself up into the seclusion of his room, Kikumaru slit the paper envelope open with an avid frenzy. His own letter had been long, almost tome-like, and he was ecstatic to find out what his friends had said to him.

Their reply was two sheets of paper, one per boy, and Kikumaru felt his spirits deflating a bit at the prospect that those to sheets were the only communication that the three had shared the entire summer. Shaking away his doubting feeling, Kikumaru picked a letter at random and began to read.

The first was from Jin, given away by the handwriting:

"_Oi, Kikumaru,"_ It began.

"_Good to hear from you, boy. Believe me; things are pretty slow without you here. Life sucks, actually. There's no one to upkeep the fort, so it's slowly falling apart. Here's a twig from the fort, just in case you're missing the place. I know I would be if I had to move._

"_Gosh, I wish you were here! Ken has started to drive me up the wall and I'm thinking about dropping him. He's a total jerk to everyone, and he's especially cranky now that his cousins are coming to visit for a while. I don't know how you or I put up with him. You're lucky to be gone. I wish I could be were you were, because man-oh-man it'd be better than here._

"_Come visit soon and save me from devil Ken!_

_Jin."_

Kikumaru twirled the prickly branch between his fingers and mulled over Jin's note, his spirits sinking. Though the three boys had been best friends, Jin had always been the quietest of the three and the odd boy out. Though Kikumaru hadn't really noticed it while constantly with him, Jin had been different. Kikumaru was just beginning now to realize just what made his friend different. Still, he was peeved that all Jin had done was complain in his letter, rather than answer questions that he had asked.

Still, he tucked the branch into his sock drawer and turned to the other letter. This one was from Ken and much shorter.

"_Kikumaru Man!_

"_Dude, you need to come visit us. We miss our third wheel._

"_Ken"_

Third wheel?! Is that what he was to them? Kikumaru growled lightly then crumpled Ken's letter, shooting it into his wastepaper basket. It missed the trash bin and angled out. Fed up with his friends, he let the day be and decided that it was time to go to bed. The whole day had been a long and aggravating one. Playing tennis the next morning would make him feel better. Dina always knew what to say, or when not to talk.

* * *

His mood had not improved much by the time he woke up. His sleep had been fitful and packed full of nightmares about school, which was coming up in the next few weeks.

He woke, as usual, before his alarm buzzed. He turned it off and slipped out the window with his racquet. He reached the park in record time and began to hit tennis balls against the fence at his and Dina's usual court. For two hours he hit the ball, waiting for her to come, for two hours he smiled at every short haired girl that passed around his court, for two hours his hope slowly declined. It was after his last ball went over the high chain-link surrounding the court that Kikumaru decided that Dina was not coming. Disgruntled, he cursed whatever was handy and scuffed his shoes on the cement a few times. Hanging his tennis racquet in a crisscross of the fence, he exited the court to retrieve his four yellow tennis balls that had managed to escape the enclosure. One particular ball had managed to roll a ways down the slight hill the tennis courts were situated on, and it was while he was retrieving it, that he saw a sight that greatly disturbed him.

A bit further down the hill, were the lawn was flat, Kikumaru saw a bunch of bigger kids circling around a little kid, two or three years younger than himself. Kikumaru watched with growing dread as the older, tougher looking kids slowly made their circle smaller and smaller until they really were breathing down the littler boy's shirt.

Knowing what came next, ashamedly from personal experience, Kikumaru sprinted quickly over to the huddled group. Pushing and shoving through the four or five boys that surrounded the kid, he managed to sling an arm around the child and gave the surprised bullies a hard look.

"I won't have you messing with this kid," Kikumaru said, sending a piercing look right into each boy's eyes; it was something he had unconsciously learned from Michi, who was the queen of intimidation when she wanted to be.

The bullies took a few steps away from Kikumaru, surprised to finally be stood up to. Then, taking in Kikumaru's small frame, three of the four laughed that such a small boy would dare defy them, but judged correctly from his agitated stance, that he could hold his own in a fight. The three, though they defiantly could have taken Kikumaru, seemed to decide that a fight wasn't worth it, and scattered, obviously to find others to intimidate.

One, however, stayed.

"And just who do you think you are?" The kid asked, twisting his baseball cap and pushing Kikumaru.

"I'm Kikumaru, and you're really starting to bug me." Kikumaru warned. "If I were you, I'd leave. Please." He added as a second thought.

The younger boy shifted to stand behind Kikumaru, a movement the baseball capped boy noticed. He snickered. "Please? Trying to be funny now are you? I don't really like people who interrupt my business."

"Yeah, and I don't really like people interrupting my tennis matches, but you just did, so we'll both have to deal," Kikumaru snapped back, beginning to tire of the bully's attitude. Still, he tried to control his breathing and his anger. He didn't want a fight.

"You're really irritating," the boy said, threateningly.

"I don't have to be. Leave the area and I won't be in your hair." Kikumaru reasoned.

The older boy looked at Kikumaru and the huddling kid he was protecting. As if realizing how dumb his situation looked—what with him being an older boy arguing with a little boy so he could take money from an _even younger_ boy—he simply rolled his eyes and walked away, calling over his shoulder.

"I'd dye that hair of yours Kikumaru: it's a dead give away as to who you are, and believe me—you'll be hearing more from me."

Kikumaru scoffed and rolled his eyes. He would bet his prized tennis racquet that the bully didn't remember who he was ten minutes from now. Still shaking his head, Kikumaru turned to the younger boy to make sure he was alright. The boy's eyes widened at the same time Kikumaru's did. The boy was the very same one that Kikumaru had hit with the soccer ball the first time he had come to the park.

The boy squeaked, bowed, then scampered off as quickly as he could, seeming to still be scared of Kikumaru. Kikumaru, for his part, simply stood where he was—amazed that little boy had such a reaction to his presence.

A little shaken, Kikumaru headed back up the hill. Why in the world had the boy reacted as he had? Kikumaru understood that he had kicked a soccer ball at him, but it wasn't such a big deal was it?

Kikumaru mulled over his thoughts as he wrenched open the court door and retrieved his racquet. He began to hit the ball against the board on the back of the court fence as he thought harder.

Bullying. How had he managed to participate in something like that? Granted, it wasn't a large crime or felony, but after seeing even a simple example from the outside was really an eye opening experience. It was such a petty thing to do. He obviously didn't like it, or approve of it, so why, for so long, had he participated in the act?

It was because of his friends, he concluded. All of his life he had loved doing what Ken and Jin loved doing—actually, he realized, he loved what only _Ken_ had loved doing. It was obvious from Jin's last letter that bullying wasn't the way for him. That had been what was so different about the boy. Only Ken had actually enjoyed the sport that came from bullying, and Kikumaru had tagged along, being lead to believe that he enjoyed it too.

Coming to that conclusion, Kikumaru wondered if there was anything that he actually had liked all by himself, rather than just believing he enjoyed it because that was the social norm. Had he ever had an original thought? Was there anything he loved? As his arm pulled forward and the ball powered off of it, Kikumaru felt the familiar tingle of excitement race through his arm, and realized that indeed he did have something that he loved—_Tennis_. The thought startled him. All these days, he thought he had been coming to the courts for the company of Dina, when in all reality, he was going for the court, for the feel of the racquet, for the way the ball bounced, for the way he knew where it was going land, for _tennis_.

And it was then that he decided to change. He wasn't Kikumaru any more. He was Kikumaru _Eiji_. He was an individual. It was about time he thought for himself.

* * *

Next day, Kikumaru arose, his face marked by his pillow and a jovial grin. It was tennis time. He picked up his racquet and opened his window. One leg out, he paused, realizing for the first time that he didn't actually have to sneak out anymore. He never had had to, aside from the first morning, but his distrust of his family had forced him to think that he had to. Still smiling, Kikumaru pulled himself back into his room and headed for his door. Hands full of tennis balls, Kikumaru struggled with the latch, and in the process, dropped one of the balls. It bounced, then rolled under his bed. Still in good spirits, Kikumaru shoved the door open with his foot, stuffed the balls into his short's pocket and belly flopped to the ground. Taking a glance under the bed he spotted his tennis ball and, mysteriously, next to it, a sticky note. Frowning, Kikumaru grabbed both the ball and the sticky note. Without rising, Kikumaru read the note.

"_Eiji—_

"_I heard you talking to mom about tennis racquets. It took me a while to dig through the garage to find them, but, ta-da, there they are. I know you won't want the whole family knowing about your new interest in tennis, (our family is awful when it comes to teasing) so I'm putting them on your bed while you shower._

"_Happy hitting—it's the best feeling you can imagine!_

"_Love (gosh, I feel like I'm five again)_

"_Minoru, your new favorite brother."_

Kikumaru lay there for a while, soaking in the information. So it had been Minoru who had brought him his new favorite toys. He hadn't really ever given thought as to how the racquets had appeared mysteriously on his bed that night.

On his way out the door, Kikumaru stuck a sticky note to Minoru's place at the table.

"_Found a baseball park. I'll show you when I get home_." Kikumaru's pen had hovered over the note, deciding what to sign. Then, with a flourish, he finished,

"_Love (man, I feel like I'm a two-year old) _

"_Eiji._"

* * *

The park was especially crowded that morning. His and Dina's court was taken by another boy, about the same age as Kikumaru, who was practicing alone. Kikumaru approached the boy and asked him if they could play a game together.

"Sure," The boy answered, shaking his white hair out of his eyes. Kikumaru grinned then mounted the court.

The match started off slowly, like they always did. The boys traded points back and forth for a while, when suddenly, the energy in the game spiked. It was almost as if one of the boys had declared war on the other, and who ever won this one match would be declared the unconditional winner. What had started off as a friendly competition had become an all out death match. The hits became harder, more risky. They were willing to do anything to win. Soon, a crowd had gathered around the court, shocked spectators staring at the boy who seemed to hover in the air.

The score was 30-40, the other boy serving on the final game in the set. His lobs had been getting continually higher, and the high arcs of the last two had given the boy the last two points. Kikumaru panted, waiting for his opponent to serve. If the lobs got higher, he wouldn't be able to keep up. There was only so high he could jump. If there was a way he could intercept the lob halfway through, that's what he needed to do.

The boy served again, and it landed dangerously close to the center line. Kikumaru ran forward to hit the ball and lobbed it into the air. The kid across the net was on the shorter side, so he rushed back to where the ball would land. Both continued to pant heavily as the set continued, a rally forming between the two.

Then came the high arcing lob, flying diagonally across the court, and Kikumaru knew what to do. Running forward with all the energy left in his tired muscles, Kikumaru leaped up onto the rail that held the net. Then, from there, he pushed off and flew even higher into the air, from where he was able to smash the ball down just inside of the other boy's court.

He turned in mid air, and landed back on the ground. The crowd stood there for a second, stunned, until someone who had been watching since the beginning yelled out, "Game, Set. Red headed kid!" Then the crowd burst into applause; no one questioned the legality of the last move—they were just impressed that the kid had been able to hit such a high lob.

Kikumaru smiled at the clapping. He had done well, hadn't he? He grinned at the boy across the net, who grinned back just as widely. For someone who had just been whooped so soundly, he was a great sport. Perhaps it had to do something with the applause his match was garnering.

Soon, the crowds began to clear, and Kikumaru shook hands with the boy he had been playing. They made a promise to play each other again, if they ever ran into each other. Then, Kikumaru gathered his racquet and balls and headed off the court and toward his house, pleased with how well the morning had gone.

Kikumaru walked home, basking in the aftermath glory of his tennis set. There really was something special about playing the game, something that nothing else in the world measured up to. His brother was right—nothing was better than hitting a ball back and forth. It sounded simple, it was a pleasure nothing could compare to.

"Oh?" A boy next to him startled Kikumaru out of his thoughts. He blinked, surprised, and turned to see who was next to him. He seemed to have fallen in step with a boy his age on accident.

"Oh, sorry," Kikumaru said, embarrassed, and slowed his pace. The boy did too and grinned at Kikumaru.

"Saa… It's no big deal…" The boy looked at him, as if trying to place him. Kikumaru noticed that he had smiling eyes and a pleasant face. "Hey, you're that boy that was playing fantastic tennis, on court two, right?"

Kikumaru grinned, embarrassed still and squinted his eyes into a smile. "Guilty."

"I'm Fuji Shusuke." The boy stuck out a hand, offering to shake. "You look like a cat on the courts."

It was _the_ defining moment for Kikumaru. It was time to change. No longer would he be Kikumaru. He was a different person now—it was time to be true to himself.

He took a breath then smiled cheerfully, holding up two fingers in a "V" shape.

"I'm Kikumaru Eiji," he cheered. "But you can call me Eiji, nya!"

* * *

_Finally our Eiji has grown up! Well, MY Eiji. Y'all are not allowed to have him. I will rent him out every once and a while, but I claim him as my own._

_On that note, he's not going to be exactly like we know him to be now. He's been living as such a whiney kid for so long that he's not going to be able to break out of that mold so soon._

_Question time! Does this story feel rushed to you? Does it feel like the characters are evolving too fast? I had planned for a lot more to happen in between the time he went to school and the time the moved, but that wasn't logically possible, seeing as how summer break is only one or two months. But whateves. It is what it is._

_Finally: Sorry if the characters seem OOC. I was/am ill while writing this, so my fever may be messing with the receptors in my brain. Please tell me, also, if I have any typos, because in my sickened state, I am not willing to go through and look for them. Ah to be lazy._

**R&R. (Minus, the Read part, since obviously you've already done that… Ehehehehe.) DANKA!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Yay! While I'm supposed to be studying for my Latin formative tomorrow, I am instead writing you a story! I bet that you will review lots for my commitment… shown by instead of updating two weeks ago, updating right now, in her moment of peril! (AKA: major procrastination… deal buddies. C:)**

**Soooo… I don't really know where this chapter is going to go. I have this story planned out to the end, but around the middle things are vague in my plans. I think the exact words I have written are, "Eiji makes friends. Yes, my lack of planning will kill me later." True to myself, yes, my lack of planning is killing me now, but Latin kills me more, so I chose the lesser of two evils. Plus, I like writing, don't like Latin. You see the handy trade off?**

* * *

**The Life and Times of Kikumaru Eiji**

Chapter Six

_Some things are destined to change_

* * *

Never had Eiji expected to have such an enjoyable summer. When first news came of his family's move, he had, true to his position as a preteen, thrown a fit and stomped off. He had begun sleeping in the fort every night possible, but always woke up every morning in his own bed—no thanks to a certain older brother and a nagging mother.

But all too soon, the move had come, and he had been determined to hate it. Thinking back on it now, Eiji wasn't sure what he was trying to accomplish by hating his new town so much. Was he expecting that his parents would decide to move back if he hated it enough? Obviously his whole family hated the idea of the move as well, but they had dealt with the problem with grace and poise. He had just proved himself to be a whiney, emotional preteen that made life difficult for himself and others.

So when he sat up in his bed at his new house, the sunlight streaming in through the wide windows in speckled fingers, he was pleasantly surprised at the smile that graced his face. For so long he hadn't felt a smile upon awakening, and it was a comforting feeling indeed. Most days he awoke with furled eyebrows, a practice the Michi had told him over and over would cause wrinkles. To that he had simply buried his brows further into his eyelids.

Still grinning as he swung his legs over the edge of his bed, he slipped into his house slippers and padded down the two flights of stairs to his kitchen, where he grabbed a Pop-tart and left a note for his family, saying that he'd be back soon. He took his mother's debit card as well, along with her grocery list, which was posted on the communal errand corkboard, adjacent to the telephone. He would pass a grocery store on his way home, if he took the long route, and he decided it would be worth it to pick up some of the things that she needed. Realizing that the Pop-tart in his hand was the last in the box, he deftly added _Pop-tarts_ at the bottom of the list, then, grabbing his socks, tennis shoes and his racquet from the hallway closet, he set off towards the courts. He had taken to sleeping in his playing clothes, so as to make the exit from his house swift and effortless. After all, why waste playing time.

* * *

Dina was still absent without leave, Eiji noticed, as he always did, and when he approached the tennis courts, he saw the same smiling boy he had been practicing with for the last few days. They had become fast friends, even in the few days that they had known each other, so it was with a jovial wave that Eiji approached his new tennis buddy.

Fuji was already hitting a tennis ball up against the board, positioned in the back of the court, as he always was. Eiji grabbed a ball from the basket Fuji managed to lug with his skinny arms across an acre of grass, and he too began hitting the ball, trying to hit Fuji's out of the air. He managed to, every so often, but more often then not, Fuji's ball went right on with its directed flight path and Eiji's smacked somewhat angrily into the plywood backing.

They rallied with themselves for a while, chatting idly in the way that preteen boys are liable to do. Eiji analyzed Fuji's swing, wondering how such hard sounding hits could be won from such tiny arms. The boy, even older than him, was tiny, but it seemed to be his small stature that enabled him to play the game of tennis with such grace. For a boy only in sixth grade, he was a wonder to watch play tennis, and secretly, Eiji was hopping that some of his talent would rub off on him. He hated to ask the boy for instructions on the finer points of tennis, too. They had forged a friendship not based on tennis, like he and Dina had, so for some reason, Eiji felt a slight discomfort when thinking about asking the boy for help. It was a sign that his former pride still remained, but he thought not a moment longer on it. It didn't hurt to have a little pride. To be shallow and devoid of interest in anything showed weak character. No, his pride was good, and he would figure tennis out for himself.

Still, it irritated him that Fuji refused to play him in a match. Day after day the swung at the backboard, and occasionally would pass balls back and forth across the net. But whenever Eiji became too aggressive, Fuji would hit the ball out of bounds and they would go back to hitting against the board. Eiji could see that Fuji was trying to pretend like he hit it out of bounds on accident, but the confidence of his swing and tilt of his racquet betrayed his intentions. Eiji would silently take this as a cue to tone it down, and would equally as silently begin bouncing the yellow ball off the board.

"Oi, Fuji," Eiji asked, after a few minutes of swing practice. Fuji looked over at him, still managing to hit the ball with perfect precision and accuracy.

"Saa?" Fuji answered, grinning eyes squinted in the sun.

"How come all you ever want to do is it off of this board? Don't you like matches better?" Eiji asked, looking out of the corner of his eye at his ball.

"Ah, I want to practice my swing. I want to make sure that I make it onto the tennis team at the junior high." Fuji answered, looking back at his ball.

Eiji looked at Fuji as he hit his yellow ball back at the target. His swing was as impeccable as any seventh grader could ever dream—Eiji knew there was some other reason for Fuji not wanting to face him, but decided not to press him for answer. Besides, another of Fuji's comments had caught his attention.

"There's a tennis team? Which school are you going to?" In his surprise, Eiji missed his ball and scampered off to retrieve it. By the time he returned to his former position, Fuji was focused on hitting the ball into the fence, rather than the smooth plywood. This resulted in an odd bounce of the ball, which lead Fuji to scamper back and forth to send the ball back towards the wall—his intention in hitting it at the crisscrossing fence, to be sure.

Curious as to see if such a tactic would work for him, Eiji immediately began training this way too. They were quite a sight to see, those two smiling boys.

* * *

"Oh, yes, by the way," Fuji spoke up suddenly, as they two were packing up. The sun was tilted further up in the sky, and on accident, Eiji looked into it when he looked curiously up at Fuji.

"Agh." He grunted, and then rubbed his eyes. Blinking away the light spots burned into his retinas, Eiji turned his attention once again to Fuji, who, by default, was still smiling. "'Yes, by the way,' what?" Eiji asked.

"There is a tennis team—at Seigaku academy. That's where I'm going to school next month. What about you," Fuji asked, helping Eiji to his feet. Eiji, in turn, hoisted his and Fuji's bags off the ground and handed the basket of balls to his friend.

"Really?" Eiji exclaimed enthusiastically. "That's where I'm going too!"

The two boys grinned at each other then swapped high fives. They were walking off the courts when suddenly Fuji stooped down to retrieve a paper off the ground. It was Eiji's shopping list.

"Ah, that's right," Eiji realized, taking the slip of paper from Fuji with a muttered thanks. "I was going to go shopping for my mother. I guess I'm walking the same way you are today."

"I could help you carry home groceries if you wanted," Fuji offered. "My mom doesn't really want me home for an hour—monthly cleaning day—and I have nothing to do."

Eiji readily agreed, and the pair set off towards the store, fretting over school and cursing their mother's insane ability to clean up what was obviously an important project—something mothers called a mess.

* * *

As it would turn out, it was a blessing that Fuji had invited himself along on Eiji's quest. The grocery store that Eiji thought he knew of turned out to be a mechanic shop, and without the guidance of the older boy, Eiji would have been very disappointed with the results of his morning. Fuji lead Eiji to a nearby store, one that his family always shopped at, and soon, they boys were carting extra luggage home in the form of food in white plastic bags. Eiji managed to slip in some instant ramen noodles for Airi, who was running low, and Fuji praised Eiji's mother's choice in wasabi. Eiji made a face at Fuji's love of wasabi, but the ever cheerful boy took it in stride and began teasing Eiji for being an insufferable mommy's boy. In this bantering manner, the two made their way back to Eiji's black-shuttered house.

Clan Kikumaru was, of course, by that time, very awake. Minoru and Isamu were outside tossing a baseball back and forth when Fuji and Eiji came trekking up the driveway, laden down with foodstuffs and their tennis gear. Almost magnetized by the draw of the food in the plastic bags, the two older boys stopped their play to help Eiji and Fuji take the bags into the house, oohing and aahing over Eiji's correct choice in Pop-tarts, and his insight on _not_ purchasing their mother's customary sauce for stir-fry—it was a common dislike in the family, that sauce.

Eiji managed to slip his tennis gear back up stairs before much of his family saw it. Minoru, of course, saw the racquet bag slung over his shoulder, but he merely winked and hurried Isamu along, citing a weak back from grocery duty and that his older brother was taking far too long to enter in the _front_ _door_. When Eiji returned from upstairs, Fuji was standing at the table with Michi, both of them pulling groceries out of the bag while the rest of the Kikumaru clan, minus the mother and father, who were at work, scampered around, placing items were they were meant to go. A truly happy smile was plastered over Fuji's face—a smile which Eiji couldn't help but return. His family was very spirited after all. It had just taken him this long to realize what a happy bunch they were.

Groceries unloaded, Fuji tried to excuse himself, but the Kikumaru kids bade him stay, which he did with little urging. Soon, Isamu and Minoru had him engaged in a triangle passing game of baseball, Minoru having dug a few more baseball mitts out of his overstocked closet. Fuji proved himself to be an able baseball player as well as tennis player, from what Eiji could see from his place on the porch.

Isamu called over to Eiji, and, albeit reluctantly, the redheaded boy joined the rest of his brothers in the game.

"So," Isamu began, once Eiji had been fitted with a glove. "How exactly do you know my little brother?"

Fuji's eyes met Eiji's from across the square the four had formed. Fuji hadn't missed how quickly Eiji had run his tennis gear up the stairs. Obviously there was something Eiji was hiding about his mornings.

"Ah, your brother," Fuji stalled, tossing the ball to Minoru, "I met him around town. Your brother has been doing quite a bit of exploring, as have I, and we've ended up in the same place every day. It's odd, I know, but that's just the way the serve lands."

Isamu looked quizzically at Fuji, wondering at his strange ending sentence; Minoru bit his lip, fighting a knowing smile.

"Yes, that does seem like Eiji, to be wondering off," Minoru said, wiggling his eyebrows at his only younger brother.

"It's in my blood I guess," Eiji answered, wiggling his eyebrows just as much.

The four laughed, then continued to pass the ball back and forth, still talking, but treading in what Eiji felt were much safer waters. Still, the whole while, Eiji felt two pairs of eyes drilling into the back of his head.

The feeling continued all throughout dinner. Fuji was invited to stay.

* * *

SO… I totally forgot if Eiji is older than Fuji. I'm thinking that Fuji is older, but if I'm wrong, can someone please clue me in so I don't go around telling lies? Thank you darlings!

Please tell me if you were confused. This is a first run through, without editing, 'sides spell check of course, so notify me of any typos. We want this story to be user-friendly. :D I tend to be long winded and less than clear in my writing, unless I get someone to read over it first, but I was so determined to get this chapter out (thirty minutes baby. I am please beyond measure) and to avoid studying that I just want to publish it now.

For my own personal record, I actually did study… Sorta. Bah, who really needs to know relative pronouns anyways?

Review please!


	7. Chapter 7

_Ah, for the days of summer that I am writing about. How I wish they were here. How I long to sit in my lifeguard chair and lazily blow my whistle at rowdy children, as apposed to my current situation: too many dreary hours in a classroom, whether it be Latin or Chemistry, English or Computer Aps II. I am already suffering from school-it is, and third quarter is only just reaching its midway point. Spring break is soon. It isn't coming soon enough._

_But enough complaining. *Whine whine whine!* Actually… Never mind._

* * *

**The Life and Times of Kikumaru Eiji**

Chapter Seven

_Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability_

* * *

Fuji, as it turned out, spent the remainder of the summer at House Kikumaru, or as he and Eiji like to call it, the Den. At first Fuji had been an oddity to the Kikumaru family—after all, it had been ages since Eiji had actually had a friend that smiled—but after a while, he became such a natural fixture to the house he was practically a piece of furniture. A well treated piece of furniture. To say he was a guest would be an overstatement—he was more of a family pet; indeed Airi had taken to petting his head on every occasion possible.

The first night, after dinner, it was actually Eiji's mother that decided the two boys would have a sleep-over. It was already dark by the time Fuji tried, with an evident unwillingness, to excuse himself—for the umpteenth time that day—and leave the family in peace. Eiji's family had gathered around him at the door on his way out, when suddenly Eiji's father had the brains to ask just where Fuji lived in relation to the Den. Fuji made vague gestures, unwilling to really say where his house was.

"Is it safe for him to be walking home?" Isamu piped up, squeezing Fuji's shoulder in an elder-brotherly fashion, swinging his worry filled blue eyes in his parents' direction.

"I suppose not…" Eiji's father conceded, lips beginning to turn up at the corners. The rest of the family started to smile too, knowing what was coming next. Fuji's stature perked up, an infectious happy feeling spreading through the crowd like some bit of juicy gossip.

"Well," Eiji's mother boomed in her natural loud voice, "I guess our little Fuji will have to spend the night. I'll make the calls."

Fuji perked up smiling wider, and Eiji, too, grinned. The day had been a great one; a sleep-over would be an excellent ending, and he got the feeling, like the rest of his family, that Fuji wasn't entirely pumped about going home.

"Oh, but I don't have any pajamas." Fuji said in a half hearted attempt at reasoning.

"I'm sure that Eiji's will fit you," Michi rebutted nearly immediately, grinning stunningly down at her newest pet.

"…no toothbrush…" Fuji muttered, smile growing.

"Look at this family," Isamu interjected, patting Fuji on the cheek. "I'm sure there's a clean toothbrush for you somewhere around here."

Slowly the family began to drift away, aside from Eiji, who stood next to Fuji, smile wider than he had ever smiled for a long time, and Minoru, who too was smiling, hands in his Bermuda shorts.

"Oh, I really couldn't impose," Fuji stated, the happy crack in his voice betraying how he really felt. Eiji's lips twitched, threatening to split his face further. His friend's attempts at politeness were amusing to behold.

"Well, I guess I could walk you home," Minoru tilted his head to the side, seeming to consider. A flicker of sadness and concern flitted across Fuji's face, before his smiling mask returned and he nodded. He turned to face the door, and Minoru again smirked.

"Or, you and Eiji could run upstairs and find a toothbrush." He finished, and Fuji's shoulders again perked up. "Either you go upstairs and brush your teeth right now, or I'm taking you home."

Fuji's eyes widened and he and Eiji looked at each other. Hurriedly, the two scampered off up the stairs to find a toothbrush, lest Minoru keep his word and make Fuji go home. Minoru laughed, and then went to steal some of Airi's popcorn, much to her extreme displeasure.

* * *

The next morning the boys slipped out the window, more for Fuji's enjoyment than Eiji's need, and traipsed off to the tennis courts, pop-tart in hand and tennis balls in pockets. It was a fine morning, one of those that hinted at insufferably hot day, but the cool morning air and still rising sun made the climate perfect for the present time. Chattering on their hike to their destination, Eiji noticed a certain air about Fuji was different. He seemed a mite bit happier—there was an added perk to his step and his smile seemed genuine, rather than the default grin he wore everyday. Eiji didn't know what it was that made Fuji so content with life, but whatever it was, Eiji hope it continued; it was a treat to see his friend so truly complacent.

A hike up the final hill dotting the tennis courts revealed that Dina was back. Eiji's face lit up and he picked up speed in a rush to meet up with his tennis buddy. Fuji kept pace with him easily and the two passed through the chain-link gate at almost the same time.

Dina, her hair pulled back into its customary twin pigtails, raised her hand for a high five, which Eiji smacked quite willingly.

"Where were you?" He asked, smacking her hand.

Dina rolled her eyes. "I had to visit family. Practically the worst weeks of my life." She looked over Eiji's shoulder at Fuji, eyes curious. Quickly, then, he introduced the two, and it turned out that they had common acquaintances.

"Oh, Hyotei you say. So you know Atobe then. Everyone knows him." Fuji asked, dropping her hand after their handshake.

"Yep," Dina cheered. "I know Atobe. Doesn't give me the time of day, but I know Gaukto,"—Fuji nodded, obviously recognizing the name,—"and in fact I was playing tennis with him the day I met Eiji."

Dina turned to Eiji, smiling and Eiji too nodded. "Yep. I don't know how you put up with him. He seems a bit stuck up, if you ask me…" Eiji finished, then bit his lip, realizing he had just insulted her friend.

Dina frowned then shrugged. "I guess everyone at Hyotei is a bit stuck up. It's part of going to the school."

"Everyone but you," Fuji jumped in wryly, pulling out a tennis ball and bouncing it on the cement. "By gracing us with your presence you have proved that."

Dina grinned again—while Eiji silently thanked Fuji for his quick, if somewhat lame and overly charming save—and snatched the ball in mid-bounce.

"And you, sirs, will of course, will honor me with a match?" She drawled, slinging her racquet over her shoulder with assurance.

Fuji smiled deeper, but then excused himself to sit off to the side.

"I'll let you two play. I bet it's been a while since you've played."

It had.

* * *

The two bid Dina adieu a few hot hours later, waving her off down the hill. As Eiji watched her go, he grinned, realizing his contentment with life. He looked to Fuji, who was also waving Dina off with his more-than-customary, smile his eyes actually crinkled up in the smile. A soaring feeling swooped through Eiji and a weight was lifted off his shoulders. It seemed the two had gotten along swimmingly and it was only now that Eiji realized that he had been worrying about what would happen when Dina came back and he would have to be friends with both of them—two complete strangers; the fact that they hit it off so well was extremely comforting.

The two quit waving after Dina was out of view and gathered up their things. Humming slightly to himself, Eiji gathered his things and stuffed them into his bag, standing when he was done. He turned to find Fuji giving his bag a strange look, and, after puzzling over his friend's gaze for a while, he too looked down at his bag and realized with a spurt of embarrassment that the bag he had packed up in was not in fact his bag. It was Fuji's. He looked up to Fuji again, stricken with worry and embarrassment—such an act in front of Jin and Ken would have marked him for serious teasing. But Fuji just laughed and loaded his things into Eiji's identical tennis bag, zippering everything in with a flourish.

The two walked off towards the Den at a brisk pace, wishing with every pore in their body that they had personal AC units to follow their every move. Fuji was just singing praises to a more genius idea of his—one involving duct taping a hand-held fan onto the brim of one of his hats—when suddenly Eiji asked a question that had been running through his head all day.

"Oi, Fuji?" Eiji asked, stopping his friend in mid-sentence.

"Saa?" Fuji answered, cocking his head to the side, causing his hair to fall farther into his pale blue eyes.

"Why do you like my family so much?" Eiji had been puzzling over the fact all day, and no matter how he reasoned it, there was no real reason to like his family. They were all over-bearing loudmouths, _especially Michi_.

"What's not to like? Fuji answered, countering Eiji's question with one of his own.

"A lot." Eiji scoffed. "They're annoying and never give you any peace. My mom is loud and my dad doesn't talk much. My brothers pester me to no end and my sisters screech every morning and hog the bathrooms. I don't see what there is _to_ like."

Fuji smiled, eyebrows tilting inwards, sadly. "I don't think they're like that at all."

Eiji huffed. "They're probably different to you than to me. If you hang out enough this summer, you'll see my point."

"I wouldn't mind that." Fuji grinned, his eyebrows back up to their usual sly position.

"You'd better!" Eiji commanded. "I don't know if I can take them for much longer. I bet your family is a lot different than mine." Eiji added the last bit as an after thought.

"You might say that." Fuji nodded, frowning.

* * *

Fuji, once again, stayed for dinner. The family seemed to genuinely enjoy his presence, which was beginning to slightly annoy Eiji. Fuji was his friend, and already Minoru had pulled him off to play video games before dinner. Eiji sat moodily on the couch behind them while they raced their cars up and down a mountain.

Dinner was served after their nineteenth trial at the game, Fuji having won eighteen times and Minoru once. Minoru took his loosing in stride and instead threatened Fuji that if he ever came near the Den again Minoru would take special care to run him over with a real go-cart. The three, Fuji, Eiji and Minoru, made their way down the two flights of stairs and they sat around the table fighting over the last veggie on the platter—Isamu ended up eating it while the three fought.

Eiji was sent upstairs to switch out their tennis bags while the rest of the family scoured the area for Fuji's left shoe. It appeared that the family dog, Inu (the name was ultra creative—and they knew it) had trotted off with it and had hidden it somewhere around the house. Eiji, who loved a good treasure hunt—though he would never admit it—dumped out the things in Fuji's bag, piled in the things of Fuji's that were in his own bag, and rushed back down the stairs, very much in the mood to be the one to find Fuji's tennis shoe.

When it was located, by Inu of all creatures, Fuji grabbed his grabbed his bag from Eiji, slapped a high five with him, and headed out the door with the Kikumaru parents. Eiji's parents wanted to meet Fuji's family and thank them for letting them steal their son all that time. Eiji waved one last time to Fuji before the door was shut. Once the door was shut, there was a mass attack on the pantry. The Kikumaru clan had had to suffer through their mother's favorite and the family's least favorite dinner.

* * *

Eiji was pulling his popcorn out of the microwave when his parents walked back in the door. It was hot, and he dropped it four or five times before finally getting a good grip on it. It was while he was pouring it into a bowl that he heard Michi's voice, loud and clear.

"What's he doing back?" Eiji heard his sister question from the living room.

His curiosity instantly piqued, Eiji grabbed his bowl of popcorn and scampered into the living room. There he stood, dripping slightly from the light rain that was coming down on the streets: Fuji.

Eiji's mother's voice was angry while she answered. "His house was locked and his parents are not home." She huffed and shoved her shoes into a closet.

"I had a key!" Fuji answered, and Eiji got the feeling that this was a continuation of an explanation he had been telling the Kikumaru parents. "I lost it I guess."

Eiji's mother swooped down and gathered the boy up in a hug. "Don't worry darling. We don't mind having you for another day. I just have a few words to say to your mother." And with that she marched off to her bathroom to get ready for bed.

As the Kikumaru clan got back to their business after ogling at Fuji for a while, Eiji looked at Fuji. The boy's eyes were red, from the rain or emotion, Eiji didn't know. Fuji sniffed slightly and looked down at the ground.

"I'm really sorry to impose again," Fuji muttered, kicking at a stain on the carpet.

Eiji looked at him for a few seconds, trying to puzzle his new friend out.

"Popcorn?" Eiji proffered the bowl, not knowing what else to do for his friend.

Fuji sniffed again, smiled slightly, then grabbed a handful.

"Thanks." He said.

Eiji wasn't sure what he was being thanked for, be he suspected it wasn't the popcorn.

* * *

_Do any of you know/remember when Yuuta goes to St. Rudolph? I need it for the plot line, but if no one know, I'll just have to make it up. I think he went to one year at Seigaku, but I'm having a tough time remembering if he even went… I think he did… I remember him looking ridiculous in some outfit, and the outfit in my brain is the Seigaku uniform. Hmmm… So if any of you know when he left for Rudolph, please let me know!_

_Also, incase y'all are confused, Inu means dog, which is why the family was so proud of their creative name for thier puppy. :D Also, they call their house the Den, which is why it shows up so much. I always get confused when people name their house, and have sworn never to do so with my house, but the Kikumarus seemed like the type to give pet names to everything, including their house--and excluding their pets. :D_


	8. Chapter 8

Okie Dokie People. I don't mean to sound like a whiney, sniveling ungrateful writer who only writes for the reviews, but I would implore of you one tiny thing: Please leave reviews. Really, I don't really care about the number of reviews I have, but if I'm to continue writing in a pleasing manner, I have to know what y'all like. It's obvious that you like the story—I already have practically the same number of alerts and favorites at chapter seven of this story than I had in some of my "more popular" stories. (And by "more popular," I mean kind of popular… I won't trumpet my own achievements if they aren't really so.) However, if I am to continue writing in a fashion that you enjoy, I really need your feedback. PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Review!

Now that that is done, I will write!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

* * *

**The Life and Times of Kikumaru Eiji**

Chapter Eight

_Don't look up, just let them think_

_There's no place else you'd rather be_

_You're always on display_

_To watch and learn from_

_Don't you know by now? You can't turn back_

_Because this road is all you'll ever have._

_-_Fences_, Paramore_

* * *

The following morning, Fuji's parents were located—far away from Japan. It appeared that Fuji's father was off on his usual and permanent overseas business trip and Fuji's mother had loaded up Fuji's two siblings and had soared on the wings of a jumbo jet to go visit him. The Kikumaru family was tied up on all parts of the story. Isamu and Minoru were instantly curious if Fuji's big sister was their age and Michi and Airi were drawn to the fact that Fuji had a brother. Eiji was simply surprised that Fuji had siblings at all—he certainly gave off the vibes of an only child. The Kikumaru parents were, of course, disgruntled over the fact that a mother would up and leave a child—especially one of Fuji's age. Fuji didn't seem too perturbed by his mother's sudden departure, which agitated Eiji's parents further.

When Fuji's mother realized that her son didn't have his key, she seemed to shrug over the phone and asked the Kikumarus distractedly if they would mind if Fuji stayed for a week or two until they came back and that she would pay for any inconvenience that Fuji caused. With a very angry huff, Eiji's mother answered that, yes, Fuji could stay with them, and no, she would not take payment for allowing Fuji to stay. With some final choleric and bitter words on Eiji's mother's part, the two said good-bye and Fuji was alerted to the fact that he would be staying with them for the next while.

The first thing done in this regard was to add Fuji to the family chore chart. This act was met with great rejoicing and celebration on all the children's part, including Fuji, who seemed to be pleased at his name being added in at the bottom; it was a fact which was discussed as an oddity. No one living in The Den liked chores, but Fuji did his jobs almost jovially. Airi made a point to avoid Fuji for a day to make sure that she didn't accidentally catch whatever sickness it was that he had that made him seem to love the painful tasks he was assigned to complete.

Eiji's bed was quickly made into a bunk-bed by attaching the top portion of the wooden frame. Isamu and Minoru had shared the bunk bed when they were little, but when they had moved into a bigger house and Eiji had been born, Isamu had been given a bigger bed and Minoru and Eiji had taken the two parts of the bunk-bed for their own. However, it was tradition that when a child in house Kikumaru reached ninth grade they received a new bed. As Minoru and Michi had just reached the ninth grade, there were two extra beds laying around, one of them, handily, being the top bunk of Eiji's bed. Sheets were quickly acquired and the bed was covered with an old blanket that Eiji suspected of being a dog blanket at one time.

Despite his wobbly, scratchy, smelly accommodations, Fuji seemed happy to be temporarily part of Eiji's family. Eiji, for his part, couldn't wait for Fuji to see just how annoying his family really was. Fuji, in the short time he had known the Kikumaru family, seemed to have placed them on a pedestal of excellence; a pedestal upon which Eiji knew his family was not worthy of standing. His family was not that amazing. His brothers and sisters were fairly annoying at best, his mother was loud and embarrassing, and his father seemed sad most of the time.

Still, Eiji was excited that Fuji was staying at his house. It was practically a dream come true for him, as he had often envisioned Ken or Jin staying at his house for weeks on end. Now that it was coming home, he was particularly thrilled, though he would never admit it to anyone.

* * *

"Eiji?"

"Yes?"

The two were at the courts the next morning, waiting for Dina to show. She had told them that she would be late that morning, as her mother wanted to have breakfast together while she was in town. Dina lived with her father, so the two boys understood her want to see her mother when the time arose for her to do so.

Fuji was standing on the other side of Court 2 from Eiji, tennis ball in hand. Eiji was waiting for the serve on the other side, body tensed in anticipation. Fuji hit the ball lightly over the net, and Eiji ran to intercept it.

"I was thinking, and I think I can sneak into my house." Fuji said while Eiji ran to hit the ball.

"Oh, how?" Eiji answered, whacking the ball into Fuji's left side of the court.

"I think I left my bedroom window open. If you can climb up to the second window, you could go around and unlock the front door." Fuji hit the ball back to Eiji, lightly still.

"You'd still be living with us, even if I do unlock the house, right?" Eiji was slightly apprehensive. He enjoyed having Fuji around.

"Oh, yes." Fuji said distractedly. "I was just thinking that I could get some clothes, rather than borrow yours."

Eiji laughed, and missed the ball, which had been a lob especially for him. The two were practicing Eiji's jumping. Fuji had noticed that Eiji was particularly good at leaping into the air and he had decided to have Eiji work on that skill. Eiji went along with it, knowing full well that Fuji was a lot better at tennis that he was. If Fuji located a talent in Eiji, Eiji was willing to run with it.

"That was pathetic, Kikumaru Eiji," Came a voice from behind Eiji, and he twisted to see Dina standing, hands planted on her hips behind the chain-link fence.

Fuji grinned, then waved Dina in. "Then come on in, Dina. Let's show Eiji how it's done."

Dina's face broke into a sly smile and she pulled the door open. "Yes. Let's."

* * *

Eiji and Fuji dropped off their tennis gear before they set out for Fuji's house and their secret mission.

"We'll be back later, mom, possibly with glad tidings." Eiji shouted up the stairs, then the two scampered out the door.

It wasn't a long walk to Fuji's house, but as they walked up the hill, Eiji noticed that the houses got progressively nicer. Soon, short fences popped up around the yards of the houses and these too got progressively taller. They walked away from the tennis courts, and up a hill that Eiji lived at the bottom of. As they got farther from Eiji's house, the sounds of the city disappeared and were replaced with a suburban quiet.

Fuji lead the way, mostly in silence, but Eiji was so busy taking in the new part of his new town that his friend's silence didn't bother him. Fuji took them down a side street and stopped abruptly; it was good that Eiji had the reflexes he did, or else the walk would have culminated in both boys crashing to the ground.

"This is it," Fuji said, and he pulled open a shoulder high gate that reminded Eiji of the kind of fences that he had seen surrounding European houses in the movies. Fuji guided Eiji around his house and to the back window. Sure enough, there was a curtain on the second floor fluttering in the breeze.

"She was right," Fuji muttered, and Eiji leaned closer to hear what Fuji had said.

"Excuse me?" Eiji asked, not catching what he had said.

"Oh, my sister told me I might want to leave my window open, so I did. Seems she was right, about me needing to keep my window open."

"Oh, that's weird."

"Actually, not really." Fuji said, shrugging. "My sister is right about a lot of things."

Eiji rolled his eyes. "Sounds a lot like my sisters, except they only _think_ they're right about everything."

Fuji laughed then gestured to a wicker climbing-ivy post, which was leaning up against his house. "Care to climb?"

Eiji eyed the wicker with suspicion. "Will that hold my weight? I may look skinny, but I'm not that light."

"Oh, don't worry. It's made out of metal; who ever designed it was very clever."

Eiji shrugged, then quickly scaled the item, trying not to squash any of the ivy. The scaffolding of sorts was taller than Eiji realized and lead him all the way up to Fuji's window. He decided that it was a rather handy contraption and wished that his house had one.

Pulling one leg into the window, quickly followed by the other, Eiji gave Fuji the thumbs up. Fuji returned the sign, then darted around the corner of the house, disappearing to wait in front of the grand front door.

Eiji dropped into Fuji's room and took a quick look around. It seemed to be a normal room, if slightly upscale. Everything Fuji owned seemed to be new and unworn. Eiji would never complain of being poor, but with five older siblings, it was likely that at least some of his possessions had been owned by an older sibling at some point. Eiji spared any other looking around for later, for when Fuji was packing. He quickly darted out of the bedroom door, located the stairs, and then from there, pinpointed the glass door from amidst the collection of wide windows on the front of Fuji's house. With a satisfying _clunk_ sound, Eiji turned the deadbolt and ushered Fuji into his own house.

"Welcome, sir." Eiji bowed, then winked.

Fuji laughed and then tromped up the stairs. Eiji followed, climbing the stairs on all fours. Fuji preceded Eiji into his bedroom, where he flipped on his closet light and began pulling what seemed to be his entire wardrobe into a duffle he had snagged from a shelf. While he did so, Eiji took another look around Fuji's room.

"You seem to have a lot of hobbies, neh, Fuji," he commented, fingering one of several cameras stacked neatly next to a pile of what appeared to be classic literature ranging from _Don Quixote_ to Dickens.

"Saa…" Fuji intoned from his closet.

"You appear to be good at them too." Eiji commented again, hardly surprised when his eyes slid from Fuji's collection of cameras to several trophies on shelves above a Mac computer.

"Ah, well, I try my best," Fuji replied, not once for false modesty, but rather honest humility.

"Is there anything you aren't good at?" Eiji wondered to himself. "Photographer, scholar, athlete…"

"Plants." Fuji said, appearing from his closet with a suddenness that startled Eiji out of his pondering.

"Say what?" Eiji shook his head, clearing the rubble that had gathered there.

"Plants. No matter what I do, I always end up killing plants. My sister grows herbs in her window seal and I always end up killing them. I over water, under water, over expose to sunlight, under expose to sunlight. I've even sat on one and didn't notice it until I had ripped the stalk."

Fuji blushed while Eiji laughed. "Well, it's good to know that you're human." Eiji finished.

Fuji smiled. "Saa…"

Fuji left his window open just a crack, to make sure that they would be able to get back into his house if the need arose, and the boys left through the front door, making sure to turn the bottom lock.

Their arrival home was met with a chorus of praise for Fuji's master plan and Eiji's capability to carry it out. Michi chimed in that Fuji looked utterly ridiculous in Eiji's clothing and was grateful that they boys were able to get some decent clothing from his closet, for if Fuji had gone around in ill fitting clothing for another day, she was going to have to move out. Eiji whispered to Fuji that it was a pity they didn't wait another day.

* * *

Fuji was rolling around on the top bunk that night, trying to get comfortable with his dog blanket, when a though suddenly struck Eiji.

"Oi, Fuji."

"Hum?" Fuji answered, rolling over once more in an attempt to find a snug part in what Eiji knew to be a hard as a stone-slab mattress—Minoru loved a firm bed, and would have slept on the floor, except for the fact that his former mattress had been harder than wood flooring it stood on.

"I'm wondering about school…" Eiji let the remainder of his sentence trickle off, not wanting Fuji to know that he was scared of the year to come.

"Saa… big year coming up." Fuji agreed.

"First year of Junior high." Eiji nodded.

"At least three of your siblings will be there." Fuji offered, hopeful that it would help his friend.

Eiji snorted. "Like that's a help… Do you know where the school is?"

"Yes. My sister graduated from it last year."

"Would you mind…?" Eiji began.

"…Showing you around?" Fuji finished.

"Nya, you read my mind." Eiji grinned, rolling over to burry his head under his pillow, now able to sleep with his worries temporarily assuaged.

"No problem. We'll go after we see Dina tomorrow." Fuji assured, patting the side of his bunk in a comforting way.

"Ah, thanks."

"Not a problem. Not a problem."

* * *

So I didn't really know how to end that one. I want the next chapter to be about them going to the school, but I didn't really want them to show up yet… So you got that lame dialogue instead. :D

And now I am off to write a ten page research paper on stem cell research... Yay. (Can you tell by my punctuation that I am _totally excited_ about this major grade for school? I'll repeat: yay.)

Now, please do what I begged, implored advocated, asked, beseeched, besieged, desired, entreated, nagged, petitioned, pleaded, pressed, urged you to do. REVIEW PLEASE. For your own sake, as much as mine! Criticism welcome!


	9. Chapter 9

The reason I have not written include the following: my research paper, extreme laziness, my research paper, another book I am writing for my writing club, my research paper and much, much homework, including a research paper.

So, unless you want to read about stem cell research, I doubt you'd want to read what I've been writing recently. Huzzah!

I guess I'd better start then. Oh, I've decided that my little quote-y things at the beginning are going to be from what ever song I'm listening to at the moment. They may not even relate. I'll try to make them relate, though… maybe.

* * *

**The Life and Times of Kikumaru Eiji**

Chapter Nine

_Leave it alone_  
_You know you don't need those lessons_  
_Someone else learned_  
_It's your life_  
_It's your right to burn_

-Angel, _8mm_

* * *

The morning broke misty and somewhat dank. Dew drops sprinkled the lawns, yellow from the summer heat. Cars, too, stood glistening in the early morning light and the remainder of the light that spilled out of the streetlights that had yet to turn off. It was an unnaturally chilly morning. It was as if the summer was offering the country of Japan a tantalizing taste of the winter to come.

The house's chill was actually what pulled Eiji from his usual log-like slumber. Staring up groggily from his pillow, his fuzzy eyes picked up nothing out of the ordinary morning-wise that would have woke him. Stirring slightly, so as to avoid waking Fuji, he sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. It was then that he noticed that he was cold. His toes felt like they had been stored in liquid nitrogen over night, and the rest of his body was on the way out of the butcher's freezer.

Eiji cursed his family under his breath for their unnatural habit of keeping their house the temperature of an arctic igloo and swung his legs out of bed. Playing tennis in the early morning would certainly help a fellow out, warmth-wise.

He stood, punched Fuji's sleeping figure and threw the boy's tennis shoes up at him.

"Oi, Fuji," Eiji called. "Up time. Hup hup. Time to go!"

Fuji squirmed and covered his head with a pillow, but Eiji knew better. Grinning, Eiji threw the rest of Fuji's tennis gear up onto the bed with him and then trotted down the stairs. He heard Fuji rising when he hit the bottom stair.

* * *

As it turned out, it wasn't as cold outside as it was in Eiji's house. It was cool, to be sure, but the mist hanging in the air promised a day of humidity before them. Eiji sighed at the thought as he placed a backhanded hit back into Dina's court. They were at court two, their usual meeting place and Eiji was actually beating Dina, for the first time in his life. For his part, Eiji was taking his whole dominating the court quite well, with only limited gloating and modest acceptance of praise. Fuji, however, could tell from the look on Eiji's face that today would be a day he would never forget and Fuji would remember as the day he would get his ear talked off about every move in the first game Eiji had ever won.

The two, Eiji and Dina, went back and forth across the net, rallying for some time before Dina hit an off ball, which Eiji responded to by jumping into the air and smashing it into Dina's court, far behind her.

"Game, set, match." Fuji mumbled, beginning to grow tired in the heat that was starting to creep into the day. "Congrats to Kikumaru Eiji, for successfully winning his first tennis match."

Eiji whooped then reached across the net to high five Dina, who accepted his high five with a smile and a laugh.

"Way to go Kikumaru!" Dina cheered, patting his back.

"Nya, it wasn't too hard." Eiji cheered, and then realized that he might have just offended his friend and added, "but you played your best, right?"

"And you still beat me. Great job," Dina rolled her eyes, choosing to ignore Eiji's two accidental insults on her skill as a tennis player.

"Ah, thanks…" Eiji said, feeling slightly awkward, realizing that he hadn't made anything better with his second remark.

Fuji walked over to the two of them, his tennis bag already slung over his shoulder. He smiled at Dina, then turned to Eiji.

"Saa… Eiji, do you still want me to show you around the school today?" He asked, and Eiji snapped his fingers.

"Oh yeah. Yes. Of course I do! I'll hurry and get my stuff." Eiji rushed off and gathered up his junk, which had managed to spread, (or crawl; Eiji swore that his things had legs of their own, which made them crawl into a mess) out across the entire bench.

With a single swipe of his newly muscled arm, Eiji wiped everything into his bag and zipped it closed, grunting as he tried to pull the zipper over his tennis racquet, which was angled into the pack oddly. When he finally managed to zip the bag up, he stood, an effort that made his knees crack, and turned to look at Fuji and Dina. To his surprise, he couldn't see a thing.

The mist seemed to have attacked the city with a fury hereto unseen by any of the inhabitants. It was a hot, heavy mist, almost like opaque steam, and Eiji could only just see the edge of the net from where he stood. Dina and Fuji were lost in the sea of mistiness that had laid it's hold in the tennis courts.

"Oi, Fujiko. Where are you?" He yelled, feeling slightly claustrophobic in the mist.

"We're over here!" Dina called back, and Eiji went towards her voice.

"Got your stuff?" Fuji asked, looking up from the strand of the net he was picking at.

Eiji held up his stuff in response, and winked. "Yep! Now we're off to try to find the school in this mist! It'll be an adventure, nya?"

Fuji smiled slightly, then the two of them turned to say goodbye to their friend. Dina hugged both of them, a gesture which sent warm fuzzies up Eiji's spine.

"I'll see you later, boys!" She said while she hugged them, smiling at Fuji. "Bye Fuji!" She called, as the two walked off the courts.

They were a few paces off before Eiji stuck a fist into the air in celebration. "Yes!" he cheered, hop-skipping in the middle of his gait. "I won, I won, I won! I. WON! Did you see that last shot I hit?"

"Yes, it was magnificent." Fuji answered, pleased that his friend was so satisfied with a match.

"It was, wasn't it," Eiji agreed, staring off into space, as if reliving the glory he had just come from. "And Dina was a pretty good sport about it too, wasn't she."

"Yes," Fuji agreed. "She's a very nice girl."

* * *

The fog hadn't lifted by the time they reached the school. Fuji assured Eiji that it had taken longer to walk to school in the fog then it would in the sunlight—Eiji had started freaking out when he realized at the pace they were walking, it would take him forty-five minutes to get to school.

The gates of the school were impressive, Eiji had to admit. He didn't know what it was about schools and gates, but if they were trying to intimidate students, they were certainly succeeding. Fuji walked past them with enough poise, but Eiji felt the urge to crouch slightly as he walked through them.

The campus was wide open and slightly hilly, Eiji noticed, though it was hard to notice much of anything through the irritating fog.

"You know, we could come back later, when there's not so much water in the air," Fuji suggested, holding up his head, indicating the fog.

Eiji shook his head. If they came back later, he'd have to walk through the gates again. "Naw, now that we're here we may as well have a look around."

Fuji shrugged, then motioned for Eiji to follow.

"Well then, let's go have a look around."

* * *

Eiji and Fuji arrived home a few hours later, drenched from the moisture in the air and the sweat the heat caused.

Michi pinch her nose as they trouped past the couch and into the kitchen. "Ew," she said, pushing herself off the couch. "I think I'll evacuate to the upstairs until you two take showers." And with that, she made her exit.

Minoru, who had just come in the back door from taking Inu out to go the bathroom, mocked his twin sisters walking, which was impeded by pieces of rubber stuck between her toes. She had been painting her toenails and had stuck the torture devices in between her toes to keep them apart.

Fuji and Eiji laughed, an activity that Minoru joined in with all to easily.

"But she has a point, you two," Minoru comment as he walked forward to hang up the dog leash. "You both need a shower. You guys are ripe."

The two looked at each other, a silent conversation being communicated between their eyes.

Fuji shrugged. "I guess I'll go first then."

He turned to leave the kitchen when Minoru called out, "Oi, Fujiko. Isamu left that shower CD for you in Eiji's room. He had to go to work before he could give it to you."

"Ah, thank you for letting me know." Fuji said, turning once more to walk out of the kitchen.

"No problem little bro." Minoru winked, ruffling Fuji's longish hair.

* * *

It really hit Eiji that school was about to start when a uniform appeared on his bed, along with a sticky note that told him he was to come with his mother to a tailor to get the uniform hemmed.

Eiji was sitting on his bed, clutching the chunks of black fabric and cursing whoever had invented school when Fuji came into the room.

It was late at night and Fuji had just come in from playing toss with Minoru and Inu at the park. Eiji had been forced to stay at home, having not completed his chores and thus not allowed to have any fun that day. Fuji and Minoru, always the two good Kikumarus, had finished their chores (_and then some_ in Fuji's case), had been allowed to exit the house.

"I see you got your uniform," Fuji intoned, swinging himself up onto his bed.

"Yeah." Eiji plunked down into his pillow.

For a moment, the two boys sat in silence, thinking their separate thoughts.

"My mother called," Fuji said after a while.

"Hmmmm…" Eiji replied, shutting his tired eyes for a minute or two.

"I'm going home tomorrow…" Fuji sounded a bit sad.

"Tomorrow?" Eiji's eyes opened.

"Yep. My sister is coming by some time late tomorrow to get me. I guess it's best, seeing as how school is going to be starting soon."

"Yeah… I guess…" Eiji answered hesitantly. "It's going to be lonely without you here though."

"Yeah. It's going to be weird to live in a quiet house." Fuji laughed, and Eiji had to join in.

"You've got that right."

The two chuckled for a few seconds longer, then lapsed back into silence.

"You'll still meet me and Dina at the courts, right?" Eiji asked.

"You bet. That's the best part of my day."

"And we'll still hang out all day, right?"

"Correct."

"I don't know how I'm going to survive my family."

"I wish I could be the one to have to survive you family. Imagine surviving mine."

Eiji kicked Fuji's bunk. "I'll have you remember that I've never actually met your family."

"Ah, you bring up a good point." Fuji punched his pillow into a more comfortable shape. "Well, I suppose you'll meet my sister tomorrow."

"I think that Minoru and Isamu are more excited about that than I am." Eiji, without getting up, wiggled into his covers.

Fuji let out a short bark of a laugh. "I can't wait to see how your family interacts with mine."

"I'm sure they'll get along fantastically," Eiji borrwed Fuji's favorite word to end his sentence. He found he was picking up a lot of Fuji's habits. "After all, you and I did."

"I'm a lot different than my family." Fuji answered, rolling over on the bunk above Fuji and curling into a ball to sleep.

"Yeah, me too," Eiji agreed, yawning.

Fuji mumbled something into his pillow that Eiji didn't really hear, but he decided not to comment. A wave of sleepiness pummled him and his bed suddenly seemed very comfortable.

Up on his bed, Fuji whispered quietly "Not really."

* * *

Oh. My. Gosh. That was the quickest writing I've ever done. That took me thirty minutes. It was total crap and extremely dialogue intensive, but what ever. This was a filler chapter with some family fluff. All the Fuji parts made me smile. I hope they did the same for you!

Actually, now that I read back through it, there was some plot in here, but you will never know what it was and probly never will. Ah, well.

I'm off to play my awesome (nerdly) computer game!

Ta ta! This is completely un-beta-ed, BTdubs. I got sick of looking at this chapter, so I'm just posting it! Hopefully it makes sense!

PLEASE REVIEW! I NEED THEM.


	10. Chapter 10

I am trying to write without music. O.o Wish me luck. I may just break down and be unlazy and get my headphones in a second. I don't know if I can do it!

* * *

**The Life and Times of Kikumaru Eiji**

Chapter Ten

_Is there something wrong,_

_And you can't put your finger on it?_

-Roll to Me, _Del Amitri_

* * *

To Eiji and Fuji's delight, Fuji was able to stay the whole rest of the next day before his sister came to collect him. As per usual, they met Dina at the courts (she thoroughly whooped Eiji, who claimed to have sprained his ankle) and then proceeded to return to The Den for a relaxing day of SuperSmash Brothers, soda pop and air conditioning. With the approaching school year on the horizon, the boys in the Kikumaru abode seemed to have an unspoken rule to cram as many video games into the remaining days as possible. The Kikumaru mother, knowing and loving her boys (Fuji included) allowed them some leniency in her strict chore policy. They needed to enjoy the last week before school started.

Fuji's sister arrived just as the Kikumaru family was finishing dinner. She rang the doorbell, and instantly six fingers when up to six noses.

"Nose goes!" Minoru shouted, and everyone looked at Fuji, who still hadn't managed to catch onto the family's version of eenie-meenie. Shrugging good naturedly, he rose from the table while the family continued to chatter, some fingers holding onto their noses in case their mother told them that they would have to go get the door.

Eiji was stacking his own dish in the sink, where Airi was busy washing, when Fuji walked back in.

"My sister is here," he announced, slinging his pre-packed bag over his shoulder. With the speed of derby horses, the older two Kikumaru boys left the kitchen, squirmed past Fuji and went to catch a look at his big sister. Eiji shook his head, somewhat embarrassed by his brothers. Fuji just rolled his eyes—he was used to the attention his sister got.

Collecting the rest of the Kikumaru family, their mother ushered them down the hall to the front door, where they would all see Fuji off. Reaching the door, Eiji's mother embraced Fuji's big sister, who was lean and fit, like her brother, and even had the same swooping brown hair and perpetual smile. There was something about her that seemed to twinkle; indeed, the eldest two Kikumaru boys stood transfixed before her, though Minoru had seemed to at least introduce himself.

"You have a wonderful brother," Eiji's mother exclaimed, letting Fuji's big sister out of the usual Kikumaru family bear hug.

Fuji's sister looked a slight bit ruffled, as if she wasn't quite used to such big hugs, but she didn't seem displeased by it either. She winked at Eiji's mother.

"Oh, I know." She seemed to giggle. "I had a hard time parting with him this summer. I guess I should count myself lucky that I'm getting him back."

Her eyes swept over the assembled Kikumaru clan, resting her sharp brown eyes on each of them for a moment. She seemed to deflate a bit.

"Yes, I am very lucky to get him back." She allowed Fuji to be hugged by each of the Kikumaru family (Minoru, instead, put Fuji in a head lock, and Airi patted him on the head, as per usual) before she backed them out the door.

"Bye!" Fuji called up the walk on last time before Eiji's mother shut the door. Or at least tired to shut the door. Isamu's foot halted its progress as he called out the door.

"Oi!" He called.

Fuji and his sister turned, somewhat taken aback.

Shy Isamu blushed at his less than polite call out. "We never learned you name."

Fuji's sister smiled warmly "Yumiko."

* * *

With Fuji gone, the days seemed to drag on. The household seemed to return to normal, but to say Eiji was bored would be an understatement. Fuji had seemed to bridge the gap Eiji felt between he and his brothers. To even think of getting along with his sisters would be miracle.

Eiji continued to go to the tennis courts every morning, but Fuji was hardly ever there. No, it was just he and Dina. Dina, for her part, seemed rather pleased with herself, but for what reason, Eiji neither cared nor asked about. Still, the marvel of playing tennis kept him from going crazy, and he was thankful for Minoru for finding him the tennis racquets.

Minoru.

At the thought of his brother, Eiji swung and missed the lob Dina had sent floating his way. Laughing at his mistake, Eiji picked up the ball and passed it back over to Dina, who was serving; but after that, his mind wasn't really on the game.

For he realized that he had never paid Minoru back for helping him with the racquets.

He had never showed his brother where the baseball park was.

* * *

The next morning, Eiji woke up before it was light out. Shuffling through his room in the dark was rough, but his eyesight seemed sharp, and he managed to locate his tennis shoes without breaking too many things. He slapped his light switch on the way out, berating himself for forgetting about it.

He gathered his brother's favorite bat—which Minoru had named some ridiculous name that Eiji forgot on purpose—a collection of Minoru's baseballs, his helmet, a warn-out glove, a rag, batting gloves, and a water bottle. All these things stuffed it into one of Minoru's million baseball bags. Then, grabbing his own tennis stuff, which felt extremely light in comparison, he tapped on his brother's door, and edged in, leaving all the bags at the door in the hallway.

Even with all of the time he had spent with his brother in this house, Eiji hadn't really been into any of his brother's room—nor, he realized, any of his siblings' rooms.

Minoru's room was the same pale blue as Eiji's, but there was a certain flare about it that screamed Minoru. It was oddly neat, with its clear floor, straight rug and perfectly aligned collection of baseball trophies. There were a few picture frames dotting a dusted set of bureau drawers, which Eiji glanced at briefly before turning to wake his older brother. They were mostly of his family, though there was a picture of Minoru's girlfriend from their old town. Eiji noticed that the only picture Minoru had of him was a picture of when he was six or seven. Eiji frowned, wondering whose fault that was, and decided it was his own.

Minoru, for someone with so much energy during the day, was not an easy person to wake. In the end, Eiji actually had to roll him out of his hard-as-rock bed and throw a pair of folded gym shorts at his head.

"Up." Eiji ordered, to Minoru who was leaning bleary eyed on his bed.

Minoru flared his nostrils and glared at Eiji before trying to climb back into bed.

"Hey," Eiji pulled on the back of his brother's white t-shirt. Even in his sleepy, loopy state, Minoru was a force to be reckoned with. "I'm trying to show you were the baseball courts are."

That fact seemed to halt Minoru's forward progress toward his bed.

Eiji smiled. He knew that he had Minoru with that one.

* * *

After a promise of a baseball park, getting Minoru out of the house wasn't the problem—it was getting him to slow down that plagued Eiji. Minoru was only slightly taller than Eiji, but he seemed to walk at the pace of a man twenty times bigger. Even though Eiji was leading, to any casual passersby—though there were none that early in the morning—would have guessed that Minoru was directing the way.

Eiji was astounded by how fast his brother was, and how light on his feet. And strong. Eiji thought himself muscled, but his brother seemed to carry his huge pack with an effortless grace. Eiji knew that the pack didn't weigh a large amount, but it weighed a great deal more than his nifty tennis bag and his brother seemed to carry his burden with more ease than Eiji and his tennis bag.

He threw a puzzled look at his brother, wondering how in his eleven years of life he had failed to notice his brother's obvious athletic ability. It wasn't as if they'd lived in completely different worlds their entire lives—no, they'd lived in the same house. He was startled, and slightly, and surprisingly, disappointed in himself for knowing so little about his siblings. They seemed almost strangers, and Eiji was reminded of the single baby picture of himself on Minoru's dresser.

* * *

The only remark from Minoru when they reached the baseball diamonds was to instantly unzip his bat bag and pull out his helmet. Eiji stood awkwardly off to the side as Minoru and his bright red hair trudged up the brick paths that separated the baseball diamonds to join a collection of avid baseball fans—they'd have to be; no one else would be playing baseball so early in the morning. Eiji felt a groan of jealousy swell within him as he watched a random boy slap Minoru a high-five. Minoru made friends so easily. But at the same time Eiji felt a surge of affection. That was uncommon, and he walked off with the feeling burning uncomfortably in his growing little heart.

* * *

Once again, Fuji failed to show. Dina, too, noticed and together, the two whacked balls back and forth moodily. Eiji's mind was far from the game, and more than once he missed the ball that was an easy shot. Dina seemed distant as well, and Eiji was about to tell Dina that practice wasn't going so well and they should pack up, when a voice rang out that stopped Eiji cold.

"Ah, I see you haven't gotten any better, Kikumaru," the snide voice called out. Eiji turned to see the boy with the unfortunate haircut leaning up against the fence of Court Two. Eiji couldn't remember the boy's name, but he also couldn't help but scowl at the boy as well. Their last meeting had them parting with this boy calling him a cheater.

"Ah! Gakuto!" Dina called out, both reminding Eiji of the boy's name, and making him slightly more angry. This Gakuto was the last person he wanted to see.

"I see you've got shoes on this time," Gakuto smirked at Eiji's shod feet.

"And I guess that means that this tennis match will be a fair, in your books," Eiji growled, his old anger boiling to the surface like a pot of some very nasty substance.

Gakuto quirked an eyebrow. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"Well," Eiji answered, gripping his racquet with a renewed fervor. "Our last match wasn't ended on such great terms, was it? I'd say it's high time for a rematch."

Gakuto shrugged. "I guess you're right." And with that, he pulled open the gate and strutted in, swinging his racquet experimentally.

Dina shuffled off the court, taking her customary cheerleading-slash-officiating spot by the benches. With a shrill whistle between her teeth, she began the match.

As per usual, it started off slow and even. For a point given, there was a point taken, and if one person double-faulted, so did the other. They were fairly evenly matched, Eiji thought, which concerned him slightly. Then, he realized, Gakuto hadn't just disappeared for the last few weeks. He had probably been training just as hard as Eiji had.

But all at once, things began to get rough. Gakuto's serves suddenly became harder, more precise, and the faults began to slip away. The servers didn't hold onto games as they once did, and actually had to fight for the advantage. Eiji's usual strategy of hitting it out of reach didn't seem to be working on the boy who seemed magnetized right to them. And if Eiji lobbed, the boy merely had to float up into the air with the grace Eiji had been working toward all summer.

It was tied forty-all in the last game when Eiji made his biggest gamble. He was tired of Gakuto's showy, extra flares. He was tired of Gakuto playing with him. It was time to show him the power of Kikumaru Eiji. The only problem was that Eiji didn't know what to do to show Gakuto that he wasn't a play toy, to show him that he was an adversary.

His chance soon came. By the time the game reached near its end, a crowd had gathered, astounded that such little boys could be playing such an excellent game of tennis. They weren't pro, but it was still slightly awe-inspiring to watch the boys volley back and forth and watch the pair float to abnormal heights. During the last game, Gakuto had been sending the ball once to the front of the court, and then the back of the court, only to return it to the front on his next swing, resulting in Eiji running back and forth. Gakuto's years of tennis gave him control of the ball that Eiji's natural talent didn't give him.

Eiji was near the front of the court when he saw Gakuto trip just as he hit the ball. It wasn't much, but the ball bounced of the racquet in such a way that it skewed off to the side. The crowd gasped, as the ball fell toward the out of bounds line, surprised that such an excellent game would be ended by a faulty hit. Eiji felt the same. He didn't want to win on the fault of Gakuto—he wanted to win by his own power. So he willed himself to run faster than he ever had run before, to the back of the court.

He heard Dina shout to him. "Kikumaru, it's out! What are you doing?"

But he blocked her out. It was a matter of his pride. He would win this on his skill.

The ball had arched high over the court and was on a path straight into the fence. And since that was where the ball was going, that was were Eiji went too. Unable to stop himself, he instead jumped into the fence, twisted around and sprang off of it, taking aim and whacking the ball all at once. Spectators gasped as he collided high up on the fence and as his racquet made contact with the ball.

An even louder gasp was heard when the ball landed at a startled Gakuto's feet and bounced low, rolling between his tensed legs.

Eiji dropped from the fence as people began to applaud his and Gakuto's tennis match. Panting, he reached over the net to shake his redheaded counter part's hand. Gakuto took the proffered hand with much reluctance. He was obviously not pleased with the outcome of the match or with its ending.

* * *

Eiji packed up his tennis bag with a small smile. He was rather pleased with the outcome, no matter what annoying Gakuto thought. From behind him, he heard a whistle. He turned, startled.

"Eiji, I never knew you were so good at Tennis. Are you a closet chess player and expert scuba diver as well?" Minoru winked as he walked up to Eiji with a few tennis balls Eiji had managed to lob over the fence during practice.

Eiji blushed a color deeper than his hair. "I guess you saw that."

"Saw that? Of course I did." Minoru lobbed a few balls into Eiji's pack, where they landed softly. "Your opponent seemed really annoying."

"Annoying?" Eiji muttered. "That's the understatement of the year."

Minoru laughed. "Agreed. And who does he think his is that he can have red hair. Doesn't he know that's the Kikumaru trademark?"

Eiji laughed, and went to pick up his bag. However, he found his brother blocking his progress.

"No, no Eiji," Minoru tisked, shouldering Eiji's bag with the fluidity Eiji had noticed earlier. "You won a tennis match. Winning deserves a treat. So, where do you want to go?"

He stood, looking at Eiji expectantly. Eiji blinked in surprise.

"A treat?"

"Yeah, don't you remember after all of my baseball games? Even if I lost, mom and dad always took us out for a treat afterward. I take it you don't want mom and dad to know about your tennis expeditions, so it'll be my treat." Minoru explained, winking.

"Oh," Eiji shrugged. He didn't know any place that was good. "I dunno."

"Well, there's a burger place that's not bad. How bout that?"

"Okay…" Eiji wasn't sure what to think. Minoru, on the other hand, cheered and pumped a fist up into the air.

"V!" He called, sticking two fingers up. "I now have another sports maniac on my side of the family." He clapped Eiji on the back, and started walking out of the park.

Eiji couldn't help but smile.

* * *

For the remaining week, Minoru and Eiji trotted down to the park early in the morning and walked home together. Eiji found that he actually enjoyed his brother's company.

And as he laid his uniform out on his bed, he knew he was going to miss his morning practices.

For school was starting the next day.

* * *

OH! Finally we get to school! I know this is what y'all have been waiting for—for eons.

I thought I'd apologize for taking so long. In my defense… well, I don't really have anything to say in my defense. :D

I hope you don't mind that I focused so much on Minoru this chapter. But Eiji has a great connection with his family that I have to create. I thought I'd start with Minoru, since he's the most like Eiji. In fact, I based Minoru, albeit loosely, off of a combination of Eiji and one of my friends, so he's really easy to write. Basically, he's just a big goof-ball with a slightly serious undercurrent he gets from his twin sister.

**Okay: I am super curious:**

**Who is your favorite Kikumaru sibling?**

A) Isamu, the kind, big brother

B) Michi, the girly, eldest twin sister

C) Minoru, the sporty twin brother

D) Airi, the innocent sister

PLEASE TELL ME. I'll take a poll later to see how the rankings change. Pleaseandthankyou!


	11. Chapter 11

Y'all should be extremely proud of me. I am starting uno day after I posted the last chapter. This does not mean that I will get it posted super quickly, but it at least means I started. And was thinking of y'all. Whether or not I had the tenacity to finish is yet to be seen. :3

On the up side, I am done with AP testing and have decided to fly on cruise-control for the rest of the school year. Unfortunately, though, my "free time" will be crowded out with work and NHS stuff…

And now, after that (very) interesting and highly needed adventure into my life, we shall begin. :D

* * *

**The Life and Times of Kikumaru Eiji**

Chapter Eleven

_They are turning my head out_

_To see what I'm all about_

_Keeping my head down_

_To see what it feels like now_

_But I have no doubt_

_One day, we are gonna get out_

-Lovers in Japan, _Coldplay_

* * *

The slim cut of his three piece uniform sat stiffly on his shoulders as Eiji and three of his older siblings tromped quietly up the hill toward their first day at school. They were almost a funeral parade, those children, with the black of their school uniform mourning the loss of summer and with it, the loss of their freedom. The sun shone down mockingly, as if bragging to the cheerless brigade that, while they would be trapped in the windowless bunker of school, it would be enjoying the pleasure of outdoors. Eiji yanked on the irritating high collar of his uniform and fiddled with the band-aid strapped across the top of his nose, assuring himself that it was still in place.

At least the girls were comfortable, Eiji noticed moodily, as his sisters walked arm-in-arm ahead of him. They had short green skirts on, while he and Minoru suffered in long sleeves. Though, when Eiji looked over at Minoru, he noticed that his brother was stuffing the black blazer-like covering into his briefcase. Eiji did the same, while laughing at his brother. Minoru wore tank-tops everyday—even during the winter. To see his brother so dressed up was actually very laughable.

Eiji's humor didn't last long, though, as he and his family continued to traverse up the daunting hill. With every weary step he took, his pack seemed a bit heavier; with the top of the hill growing closer, his head seemed to droop forward.

He was going to school. Every time he thought the words, they hit him like an angry mom diving for the last toy in a toy store. Somehow, when he had moved here, he had gotten it into his brain that there was no such thing as school, and he would be living in an eternal summer. School meant that he would have to make friends—something he wasn't good at in the slightest. Sure, he had Fuji, but how often would they see each other that year? If they were in different classes, it would be a total of zero hours in the day, aside from lunch. And Eiji was unsure about lunch as well. Fuji was such a nice guy that he probably had friends already. And a girlfriend too. At the thought, Eiji growled—Fuji really had all the luck.

Still, he hiked his tennis bag up onto his arm for comfort. At least there was tennis to keep him company. If all else failed during lunch, he could go practice. Most of his siblings had given him a bewildered look when he had added the bag to his shoulder that morning, but Minoru just grinned, tugging at his own extra bag—his baseball bag—in support.

The gang of four crested the top of the hill and Airi squealed. Eiji, a bit behind, couldn't see what she was so excited about, so he and his brother sped ahead. What he saw made him grin wildly.

Standing on the corner was Fuji.

The entire Kikumaru family surged forward, in a giant wave of red-haired, ecstatic children and nearly drowned Fuji in hugs. Fuji seemed generally pleased that he had the whole of the younger Kikumaru family there with him, and—after a pat on the head from Airi, his jacket brushed by Michi and being put in a head lock by Minoru—he and Eiji broke off from the crowd and walked a little bit behind, catching up on the last weeks it had been since they'd seen each other.

"Where were you?" Eiji asked instantly, encapsulating in one question all the questions he had about where Fuji had been instead of tennis practice, and what had happened to their pact of hanging out every day.

"Oh… My dad came home," Fuji answered, shrugging, but offering no other information.

"Came home? Where was he before?" Eiji asked.

"He works over-seas. He's hardly ever home. Since January I've seen him once."

Eiji had to raise his eyebrow at that one. That four months of Fuji's father being away. Eiji's own father was never away. In fact, he was a slightly sick man with a perpetual cough that kept him home as often as he was allowed. It was because of this sickness that he was so close to his boys—well, Isamu and Minoru at least. Eiji hadn't taken advantage of his father's time at home as well as his brothers had, and was sadly lacking in the father-son relationship that the other three shared. But still, he couldn't imagine a house without a father, only a mother.

"Oh, well, that's a good reason to hang around home, I guess." Eiji stuttered.

Fuji just shrugged again, and broached another topic.

"How's Dina? I haven't seen her in a while."

And for the rest of the walk, Fuji listened while Eiji explained, with great detail, how Dina was doing, and the extraordinary event that was his and Gakuto's last match.

* * *

Several minor hills and an impromptu race later, Eiji and co. ran through the gates surrounding the school, where they slowed their mad dash to the slowest crawl they could. For a while there, during the run, they had felt as if it was summer once more, but with the gates encircling them like giant, meaty hands, they realized that they were about to be tortured for the next many months.

There was a slight incline that wrapped around the school and lead down to the tennis courts. Here Fuji parted with Eiji, but not before taking care of his friend, who was trying to fight the sweat of his palms and the rushing of his heart.

"You see that kid there?" Fuji asked, pointing toward a middle height boy with a tennis bag and black hair.

Eiji nodded, gulping up Fuji's advice like a fish would gulp up water.

"He's pretty nice—I think you and he would get along stunningly." And with that Fuji was off, with a promise to meet Eiji at the front of the school a bit later, where they would find out what class they were in.

Eiji watched Fuji trot off in the graceful way that his friend had, then turned to face the boy that Fuji had pointed out. Eiji was about to go up and talk to him, but swerved away at the last second—going to a new school was enough newness for him for one day. He would try at making friends tomorrow. And suddenly, tomorrow seemed like eons away, when Eiji realized that he would have to make it through an entire day of school before he would be able to make it home again.

Eiji reached the tennis clubhouse with a half-hour to spare before school started. He was going to meet Fuji ten minutes before the first bell rang, to look at the lists of classes together. So that gave him twenty minutes to kill. Knowing that he'd get enough of the school building over the next three years, he opted not to take the tour he knew his siblings were taking themselves on, and instead slipped his racquet out of his bag for a bit of early morning practice.

He reached the courts, realized they were full of upperclassmen and sighed. About to return his racquet, unused to it's bag, he spotted a bunch of kids his age, who were practicing against the brick wall that kept the path down to the tennis courts from eroding. It seemed flat enough a surface, so Eiji took his spot next to a particularly tall student with glasses and spiky black hair and began an easy volley against the wall. His hit was as light as the morning sun, and he found himself falling into the same old meditative state he always felt while serving smoothly back and forth to himself.

"Watch out!" Came the cry, jerking Eiji out of his slightly comatose state into a state of utter confusion. A ball came flying past his head, and the tall boy with opaque glasses ran off to retrieve it, blushing furiously. Eiji's own ball angled off his racquet in such a way that it missed the high wall entirely and managed to roll into the bushes far above. Angry for losing his favorite ball, Eiji called up to a passing student.

Astounded, he realized that the boy whose attention he caught was that selfsame boy that Fuji had pointed out to him earlier as possible friend material.

Blinking himself out of his coincidence induced stupor, Eiji called up to the boy, "Oi, can you grab that ball for me, and throw it back down here?"

The boy shuffled around a bit, searching for the ball under the wrong bush for a while before he managed to locate Eiji's prized tennis ball.

"Here you go!" The boy called, throwing it down to Eiji, who jumped up into the air and caught it.

"Thank you much," Eiji praised, then, on a sudden impulse, asked, "What's your name."

The boy's worried face briefly broke into a small smile as he answered, "Oishi. You?"

"Um. Kikumaru Eiji, but you can call me Eiji, kay?"

"Okay." The boy backed away from the edge of the incline, smiling as if glad to finally meet a person, a friend.

"See you around ,Oishi."

"Ja, you too… Eiji."

* * *

Deciding that playing tennis in such crammed conditions was a bust, Eiji made his way back to the tennis clubhouse and stowed his racquet away for later use. Snapping the door shut behind him, he took his time getting back up to the main doors of the school. He was in no mood to actually admit that he had to attend school, but unfortunately, school had to come.

He milled about the front of the school for a while, trying to keep his eyes away from the giant lists posted on the front of the school building. He and Fuji had promised not to look without each other, so to keep himself occupied, he busied himself trying to look busy. The school was really boring already. As he swept his eyes over the crowds gathered, all he saw was a bunch of the same things—matching black jackets, millions of the same pink bows and long dark hair—all headed toward school. They almost seemed excited for school to start. Eiji scoffed, feeling a bit of his old rebellion seeping back into him.

For the remainder of the ten minutes wait, Eiji contented himself with watching a short girl with short black hair and an equally short skirt yell at a group of boys, who had been teasing another girl. Eiji was surprised, because the other girl seemed to be the rough sort. She had a shiner under one eye and part of an eyebrow was missing.

It was these two girls that gave Eiji a bit of hope for the school. Maybe everyone wasn't some school drone, dressed up the same to reflect their inner identicalness.

Eiji felt a tug on his backpack and turned to see Fuji standing next to him.

"You all ready to go and face the probability that we won't be in the same class?" Fuji frowned, and Eiji noticed that he looked genuinely unhappy. Despite the fact that what Fuji was talking about was a depressing reality, it comforted Eiji a bit to know that Fuji really did want to be in the same class as him. Eiji had been afraid that Fuji would ditch him (albeit politely) for old friends. This didn't seem to be happening, at least yet.

Eiji and Fuji smacked an encouraging high-five, then together stalked forward to check the lists (of Doom.)

The crowd was relatively thin, what with everyone else having already checked their classroom and gone off to explore and catch up with friends. Most of the crowd was situated around the ninth grade board, so Eiji and Fuji were able to walk up to their list without a problem. They scanned Class 1 and didn't see their names, so they moved on to Class 2. They didn't see their names there either. Classes 3, 4, and 5 turned out the same.

Fuji, who moved faster than Eiji when it came to reading, tapped a spot on Class 6's paper.

"Here I am."

He ran his finger, down the rest of the list, both columns, scrunched his eyebrows together with distaste and then moved onto Class 7's list. Eiji had given up looking, so nervous and disappointed was he that he didn't appear to have classes with Fuji.

In the meantime, Fuji had finished scanning Class 7's list, and all the remaining lists—all the way up to Class 11. That done, he turned to Eiji with confusion written all over his face.

"You're not on the list for any of these classes." He gestured behind him at Classes 7-11. Eiji's face crumpled as he pushed past Fuji.

"That can't be possible!" Eiji exclaimed, slightly hysterical, as he started running his finger down the list as well. It would be just his luck to start off the school year sitting in the office, waiting for someone to place him in a class, while the other students were off making friends.

Eiji suddenly stopped his rabid searching and rounded on Fuji, who was standing next to him, a grin starting to seep onto his slight face.

"Is there something you want to tell me?" Eiji questioned quirking an eyebrow at Fuji's mysterious smile.

"Well, you aren't on the lists for Class 7 through 11, but," Fuji grinned and poked at the list next to him. "You are on the list for Class 6—with me."

Eiji felt his plummeting spirits jerk upward like a plane coming out of a nose dive. He trained his eyes on where Fuji's finger was planted, and there just as Fuji said, was the name "Kikumaru Eiji."

Eiji stood there, stalk-still for a few seconds, before jumping into the air and cheering.

"V!" He shouted, stealing Minoru's phrase, as he punched the sky. He landed next to Fuji and the two of them exchanged another high-five.

"Fujiko, this year might actually turn out to be better than I thought," Eiji said as they began to walk toward their new classroom.

"Saa… Indeed." Fuji agreed. That settled upon, the boys fell into an easy conversation that lasted until they reached the sliding door of their classroom. Eiji took a deep breath to steady himself, squared his shoulders, and pulled the door open.

The room was crowded, yet cheery, with large windows that covered the entire side wall and posters up above the chalkboard which covered in hard to remember English words—there as a helpful reminder when English translations became a bit too tough. The kids already in the class turned to face them, and even they seemed a pleasant bunch. Eiji noted that the short girl who had been protecting her friend was in his class—she looked a bit grumpy, sitting up near the front, her arms crossed. Eiji hoped that for the sake of his life, his chair was near the back.

He looked around for his name on a desk and found it at the front. To his relief, however, he found that it was on the opposite side of the room from the cranky girl's, and one row back. He stuffed his books into his desk and hung his briefcase on the hook on the side. He looked around to see Fuji doing the same. The two grinned at one another and Eiji gave him a thumbs-up. Eiji couldn't have been more pleased with his current situation.

Their first period teacher slouched into the room and ordered them good-naturedly into their seats. He was a big man with close cropped black hair and small eyebrows. Though his face was in a permanent scowl, he seemed to have a genial disposition and a sunny outlook on life. When he barked out his orders for bottoms to meet chairs, Eiji didn't feel his normal rebellious nature spark up, and he sat.

As his teacher began writing that day's assignments on the board, Eiji looked back at Fuji. As Fuji looked back and him, Eiji winked.

This year was going to be much better.

* * *

I'm realizing that this sounded a lot like an ending. This is not so. This is near the middle of the story though. Halfway there, I do believe. On another note, I'd say I did an excellent job writing this throughout the week. I worked on it a bit each day and I think it ended up the better for it.

And now, I must know. How many of you watch Lost? For I am uber excited for the next episode. I feel like the lone Lost watcher on this planet. Though my friend was crazy and started watching it halfway through—when things were really confusing. O.o

_Review please? They make me muy, muy happy. *cheesy grin*_


	12. Chapter 12

**Oh. My. Gosh. I cannot believe that Lost is over. Do you know how sad this makes me?**

**School has one more day plus four exams to its name. This results in little to no homework, which in turn results in an excess of free time. Yay! I'll write for a little bit per day, as I should be studying as well… yeah right. I've never studied and am far too lazy to start now. I'll leave college to teach that to me… Which is coming up soon. Crappage. (BUT I HAVE A WHOLE YEAR!)**

**(Look at my quote. It oddly fits, if taken out of context, for Eiji. :D)**

* * *

The Life and Times of Kikumaru Eiji

Chapter Twelve

_I'm like a ringleader_

_I call the shots_

_I'm like a fire cracker_

_I make it hot_

_When I put on a show_

_I feel the adrenaline moving through my veins_

_Spotlight on me and I'm ready to break_

_-_**Circus**_, Britney Spears_

* * *

"...remember that the word 'their' indicates plural, and that it should not go with 'person' which indicates singular. For instance, if you were to say, 'a person hid _their_ cabbage' this would be incorrect. Keep this in mind."

Eiji gazed blurrily up at his teacher. School was generally boring, but a grammar lecture before lunch was about more than he could handle—no, it _was_ more than he could handle. He felt himself nodding off, and noticed too, that his fellow classmates were looking at their notebooks and wishing that they were pillows. Only the cranky girl a row ahead of Eiji was taking notes of any kind. Eiji twisted his head to see that even Fuji was staring out of the window, blatantly ignoring the lesson in progress.

Eiji doodled in the margin of his spiral bound notebook to give the appearance of learning, while his mind wandered on the past week.

It had only been a few days into the never ending school year when Eiji decided that school was boring. He had always come to this conclusion, and it pleased him to say that he enjoyed this school a bit more than his old one, but still—it was school, and thus was required to be hated. The only thing that made it bearable was Fuji and tennis.

Fuji and Eiji walked to school together every morning. With early morning tennis practices scheduled by their crazy captain Yudai Yamoto, Eiji and Fuji left earlier than all of their siblings to get to the school. They never got to play tennis in the mornings—only worked on stroke work and picked up balls for the older kids who were actually on the team. But Eiji and Fuji had a fun enough time doing such menial tasks that it didn't matter much.

School, after a morning of tennis and excitement, was dull and lifeless, as it had always been. But the fact that Eiji had such a smart friend as Fuji made everything easier.

The fact that Fuji was ultra smart, as well as ultra athletic and ultra popular with females, did not surprise Eiji in the slightest. Fuji had come home with Eiji the first day of school to eat the celebratory cake Eiji's father had purchased. Rather than never do homework, as had been his usual custom, Eiji had decided to complete his homework while they waited for Minoru to come home from baseball practice. Eiji and Fuji settled in on the kitchen table and spread their books wide, taking the plunge into their homework.

When Eiji surfaced about a half hour later, gasping for breath because some rough literature questions, he looked over at his co-sufferer, and found him playing checkers with Airi quietly.

_Traitor_, Eiji thought, as he eyed Fuji's neatly buckled briefcase, which seemed to be a neon light advertising the fact that Fuji was done with the same school work that Eiji had yet to even half complete.

* * *

The last words of the teacher were drowned out by the drone of the bell, signifying the start of lunch. True to their engrained respect, the children in the classroom merely stiffened, while they waited for their teacher to set them free. She gave them a slight smile, then paused for a few seconds, seeming to savor the split second of ultimate power she held over them, then closed her book and dismissed them. After a quick bow, they were out the door, spreading like ants out of a broken anthill.

Eiji waited for Fuji at the door, and then the two of them headed down to the lawn in front of the school where they had decided to eat everyday. The lawn had a bit of a view of the tennis courts, where the hopefuls wanting to join the tennis regulars were practicing. Eiji was a bit peeved that he couldn't try out for the team just because he was a first year, but he bit his lip and watched them nonetheless. They were rather inspiring to watch, those boys, even if Eiji was sixty-four percent sure that he could beat most of them without struggle. The way they tried so hard to be impressive; the way they tried so hard to do their best. It was something Eiji had never had to do. He thought about trying it sometime, but decided, as he laid back in the grass, that he was far too lazy to try any harder than he already was trying.

Fuji leaned back against a bench nearby and let out a sigh.

"School has got to be the biggest bummer of my life," He said in monotone, looking down on the practicing kids with a critical eye. Eiji could see his friend's brain working, mentaly fixing every little problem in a stance, in a swing, in a serve.

"Eh…" Eiji proffered, "I don't think it's that bad. Granted, it is really boring, but I like it a lot better this year than I did last year."

Fuji nodded. "Saa… Me too."

He looked down at his lunch box and picked through it while Eiji picked at some grass, content to not be in class. Suddenly, Fuji's head perked up at some sound Eiji had yet to hear. Eiji looked around the expanse of the lawn and saw the normal lunch time hustle and bustle—nothing out of the ordinary. Eiji let his head fall back into the grass, sleuthing over and done with.

"Hello," a deep voice said, and Eiji's eyebrows furled. That voice had not been around twenty seconds ago.

"Saaa…" Eiji heard Fuji said, and instantly Eiji's curiosity was piqued. Who in the world was talking to Fuji? He sat up quickly—so quickly that the blood rushed out of his head and he was left feeling dizzy.

"You ready to go?" The voice asked, and Eiji was able to see through the nargles in his vision just who the voice belonged to.

It was that Tezuka character, Eiji realized—the one with swooping brown hair, oval glasses and an overly astute, stone like face that never seemed to crack, not even into a smile. Fuji was getting to his feet before Eiji was able to realize what was happening.

"What?" Eiji asked, as Fuji gathered his backpack and lunchbox.

"Oh, Tezuka wants to practice, and I could really use some practice too. You don't mind, do you Eiji? I thought I brought it up with you, but obviously it slipped my mind." The look on Fuji's face told Eiji that Fuji really was willing do ditch Tezuka if Eiji dictated his desire, but Eiji wasn't quite that cruel—any more.

"No, it's all good, nya." He waved the two away. "You two go have fun… in fact, I might just join you on your walk down to the courts. My muscles are feeling a bit stiff and could use a bit of a stretching."

Tezuka and Fuji waited while Eiji quickly gathered up his things. Together, the three headed down to the courts. Tezuka, Eiji decided, walked with confidence. Eiji had never seen Tezuka play, but he had heard stories, and the stories told of how good Tezuka was. And it seemed that Tezuka knew it too.

Eiji looked at the glances he and his group was gathering as they passed. Eiji had never been able to play tennis at the school, so he knew the looks weren't directed at him—sadly. He had never seen Fuji play seriously and he doubted anyone else had, so he deducted that the significant looks were for Tezuka.

Eiji growled at Tezuka's popularity. It wasn't fair that Tezuka was a first year too, and he had all this attention. Tezuka couldn't be all that much better than Eiji. Perhaps more skilled, but talent-wise, Eiji considered himself to be the cream of the crop.

A ball came sailing over the girl's courts and Eiji had only moments to dodge a bright pink tennis ball. It landed softly enough, and Eiji realized that even if it had hit him, the only thing that would have been bruised was his ego. He let Fuji and Tezuka pass in front of him—they weren't that fun to talk to at that moment anyway—and went to fetch the ball that had nearly hit him.

He picked it up and turned around, bouncing it in his palm as he scanned the area for whomever the ball belonged to.

"Here!" Came the call, a little to the left of Eiji, and Eiji turned to see a girl with long black hair and what seemed like a permanently amused expression run forward. Eiji trotted forward and deposited the ball into her hand.

"Nya, here you go," He said, and turned away.

The girl stood here, stalk still. Eiji was weirded out, but he continued on his way, rubbing the bandaid on his nose for comfort.

"Thank you!" The girl cried after a prolonged silence.

"No problem," Eiji called back, then hurried off to find Tezuka and Fuji. As quiet as they were, at least they were better than weird girls that stared at you funnily.

"My name is Miki!" The girl cried after him again. Eiji, a politeness beginning to grow in him because of Fuji, turned and waved again.

"And I'm Eiji."

This time Eiji hurried off more quickly. He shook his head as the sprinted away. And he had thought his family was weird; Obviously he hadn't met this new girl before.

* * *

Tezuka and Fuji were halfway through changing into shorts by the time Eiji got to the club house. Eiji quickly pulled on a pair of shorts and a white t-shirt he had stashed in his tennis bag especially for occasions as these. He noticed that while his t-shirt was streaked with muck from the objects in his bag rubbing their filth on it, Fuji's shirt managed to remain impeccably clean.

"_Freak_," Eiji thought fondly, as he followed the other boys out the door.

It was obvious that Tezuka and Fuji were going to practice together, so Eiji bid them farewell and looked around for someone else to practice with. None of the older boys were about to come off their high horse and play a match or two with him, so he looked around for another boy his age. Most were pared up or practicing against walls, and most of them looked unfriendly to Eiji's new-kid eyes.

_Except him_. Eiji thought

Eiji trotted up to a black haired boy who was practicing by himself, taking calming breaths as he went. He was about to do something far out of his comfort zone.

"Hoi hoi!" Eiji called out, voice shaking, and the boy turned. Eiji hid—and hid well—his shock; it was the same boy that Fuji had pointed out a few days before, and that had saved his favorite tennis ball. _Oshi? Osish? What was his name?_

The boy's countenance brightened. "Oh, Kikumaru, funny seeing you around here… Only I guess not, since you play tennis. How silly of me."

The boy—_Oishi! That was his name_—blushed a bit, noticing that he was digging himself further and further into an embarrassing situation.

"It's nice seeing you around here too," Eiji agreed, deciding not to comment on the boy's awkwardness. "Hey, I was wondering…."

Oishi perked up, listening with a slight smile.

"...would you want to play a match with me? I think our superiors are too hoity to play with the likes of us first years."

Oishi laughed, then gripped his tennis racquet.

"Why yes. I wouldn't mind playing with you."

* * *

SCHOOL IS OUT FOR ME! Nuff said! Actually no: explaining Tezuka. He is going to be hoity toity in this story. He is described as being an extremely cocky first year, so that's how I'm going to write him. :D

For the record, this is what our loveable older brothers and sisters kind of look like. I obviously had to take them from other mangas as I can't draw what they actually look like in my brain and they don't actually exist in the POT manga/anime-verse either. So here we are:

Isamu looks like Shiki Senri from Vampire Knight

Minoru looks sort of like Lavi from D Gray Man

Airi looks Andou Aiko form True Tears

Michi looks sort of like Kahoko Hino from La Corda D'Oro (sorta)

A side note: I'm not necessarily saying that the characters act like their look-a-like. Their personalities are not the same—they just look sort of similar. I've never read D Gray Man, La corda D'Oro or True Tears and I read enough of Vampire Knight to know that there would be too much Zero bashing for me to handle. :D


	13. Chapter 13

**I am super sorry for this taking so long. It wasn't a bout of laziness. It wasn't anything school related (hey, it's summer!) and I can only blame vacation for taking up two weeks of it. I can't even blame work, seeing as how I _wrote_ this at work. I can only say that I just didn't write. So maybe it was laziness. So, again, sorry. I need to get to the point where I won't have to say sorry anymore… I'll even write at football practice!**

* * *

**The Life and Times of Kikumaru Eiji**

Chapter Thirteen

_So full of misadventure_  
_and feelings insecure_  
_It's so easy push the pin, fake the tense_  
_And give us nothing more_  
_And if it's OK by you,_

_Hey Hey don't pay no mind,_  
_We are the second, you're minutes behind_  
_So you say, "Yeah I'm alright"_  
_You are the fortunate all the time_

_And if it's the one thing_  
_That I've been sure of,_  
_Well it's OK, I know you've got the time..._  
_If it's all one and the same thing_  
_Then I've been waiting for the fallout, we're history_  
_But it's gone on for so long, for so long_  
_That I don't think you'll ever be the same_

-The Fortunate, _Cartel_

* * *

The match between Oishi and Eiji, to put it nicely, didn't last long.

As with his usual matches, things started off slowly, with the boys trading points. Then at that critical point, the tempo of the match hitched and the two were fighting for the advantage. Well, Eiji was at least. The other boy seemed to be perfectly calm and in control of the wildly spinning ball.

A sizable crowd had gathered. Without anything else to do during lunch, the ongoing tennis match was the sight to see. The taller boy with black hair seemed to be working magic with the yellow ball and unwieldy racquet. Even those who knew nothing more about tennis than the fact that the courts took up a lot of on-campus space, could feel that the shorter boy was outmatched. For as high as the as the cat-like boy could jump, the black haired boy hit the ball just higher. For as quick as the shorter one was, the taller aimed and landed the balls in areas that his opponent had no chances of getting at.

_Oishi is way better than Dina_, Eiji thought moodily, as he wacked a ball back at Oishi. He put a bit too much backspin on the ball, and it dropped before it got over the net.

There was no contest. With one final serve, Oishi placed a ball in Eiji's court, where it bounced between his legs and ricocheted out of reach. Eiji's swing, moments too late, wasn't anywhere nearby. The crowd gave polite, scattered applause, then walked off to eat, chattering amongst themselves.

Eiji stayed where he was, shell-shocked. He wasn't used to losing. He prided himself on natural talent. He prided himself with tennis. He prided himself on winning. And here was this boy who had apparently trampled all this with a few well placed tennis balls.

It was a very disappointed Eiji that halfheartedly shook hands with the grinning Oishi.

"Good game!" Oishi told Eiji and the shorter boy shrugged.

"Good for you maybe."

Oishi furrowed his eyebrows, puzzled. "Didn't you have fun?"

But the bell signaling the end of lunch rang, and the two boys had to scamper off to pack up their bags. They had to pack up and the tennis courts were a long way from school.

* * *

And so was Eiji's brain, for the rest of the day. He was never that great at school anyway, but with his mind preoccupied by thoughts non-school related, it was worse. His brain was concentrating on the game. As he replayed it, he felt himself sinking into a blacker and blacker mood. Every shot that he had missed was like a gunshot to his ego. With every shot it deflated, until his ego was as pitiful as a hot air balloon caught in a tree. It got to the point where he questioned his ability all together. No one should have been able to beat him that bad. Was it some fault of his that ended the match with Oishi's win?

Eiji continued to replay the game, ignoring the pointed stares his teacher was giving the closed notebook at his elbow.

No it wasn't any fault of his, he decided firmly after he had analyzed very volley and shot and lob and netball and serve. He had played his best. Maybe not his hardest, but definitely his best.

The class had erupted into a mass chatter, which pulled Eiji out of his reverie. He looked up from the pencil he had been chewing on when his desk wiggled and Fuji kneeled down next to him.

"What's going on?" Eiji asked, and Fuji helped himself to a pretzel from Eiji's lunchbox.

"The teacher left for a second," Fuji said, seeming to wave the words off. "I heard you played a game against Oishi today: How'd it go?"

Eiji's usually happy voice lowered until it was nearly a growl. "He beat me bad." He scratched the band-aid on this nose, scowling under furrowed eyebrows.

Fuji, nodding, chewed on his food, seemingly in a deep reflection on the matter. "He is pretty good," Fuji granted, and Eiji nodded his agreement furiously.

"You bet he is!"

Despite his slightly good mood on the outside, Eiji was still smoldering inside with concealed anger at himself for losing. It helped to ease his pain a bit if he chalked Oishi up to be the best tennis player around. If his opponent was this outstanding player, he could give himself an excuse as to why he had lost so terribly.

The boy in front of Eiji had evidently been eavesdropping on the conversation, because he turned around to comment.

"Wait, you were the one playing Oishi today at lunch?"

Eiji nodded, now angry that this boy had interrupted his and Fuji's conversation. He had just been about to ask Fuji how his game against Tezuka had gone. Eiji had never seen Fuji play hard, so he was curious as to how it had gone.

"You thought Oishi was good?" He boy asked, aghast. "Obviously you don't know a thing. Oishi…" The boy shook his head. "Anyone could beat Oishi. Kawamura is the only person who hasn't at this point."

The boy was obviously keen on his point, for he went on despite the dirty looks Eiji was lobbing in his direction.

"Oishi stinks, to put it mildly. If you want a real challenge, might want to play Fuji here, or Tezuka or—" He was cut off.

Looking back later that day, Eiji couldn't remember when exactly things had started. His eyesight was the best, but obviously his fists and mind had worked too fast for his eyes to see.

Before the boy had managed to finish listing talented people, Eiji had knocked him out of his chair and a bit of his former Yankee side flared up as he let his anger surge into his fists.

Even as he landed the first few punches, he wasn't sure why he had reacted to the boy's words. The boy was an idiot, after all. Maybe it was the flash of anger in Fuji's eyes when his own name was mentioned. Maybe it was because this mysterious Tezuka person seemed to be the only pillar he could work up to. Maybe it was because this boy was tearing down Eiji's opponent and dealing his ego another blow. Maybe it was the simple fact that the boy was insulting such a nice person as Oishi, who didn't seem to have a mean bone in his body.

Whatever the reason, every single punch Eiji landed seemed right, just, and correct.

There wasn't even a moment of regret as the teacher pulled the boys apart and frog-marched him down the hallway toward the offices of some stuffy teacher who would dole out his well earned punishment.

Several hours, a parent-teacher conference, a lot of chastisement and disappointed looks later, Eiji was again frog-marched from the school by his mother to the awaiting family car. Though knew the mother of all talkings-to was waiting for him in the car, Eiji still wasn't ashamed of his actions. Ashamed that the boy had landed quite the scratch on his cheek, yes. But not ashamed that he had rained his fair share on the other kid.

Eiji and his mother sat for a few quiet minutes as she backed out of the school parking lot and set their course for home. Eiji watched outside, mildly amused when business buildings gave way to houses and dwellings.

"Why'd you do it Eiji," His mother asked suddenly. Eiji detected a slight lilt, a tone in her voice. It wasn't the exasperated, disappointed tone he'd expected to hear. It was hard to place, but it carried the weight of long suffering and pleading, and all of the sudden Eiji wondered what it would be like to have himself as a child.

"The kid was bad-talking one of my friends," Eiji answered, absentmindedly wondering when Oishi had become his friend.

His mother sighed. "Eiji—"

But she was cut off. "Mom, you should have heard him! What he said wasn't as bad as his tone. He sounded so… so… _superior_. Like he knew what he was all about. But if he had known Oishi for two minutes, he wouldn't have had a single mean thing to say!"

Eiji's mother held out a hand to stop him.

"Eiji, I don't doubt that what you did was noble. You've always been my little protector, even if you didn't want me to see that. But I thought that we—no, you—were making so much progress. You smile so much more, you laugh so much more. You've found something you enjoy. You've made a great friend. But when you go around and do something like this, provoked or not, I begin to think—"

This time it was Eiji, who sat hunched clenching the envelope the hissy school officer had sent home with them, who interrupted.

"It's hard to change. I can't do it all at once."

"I know sweetie," his mother said, looking fondly over at her son.

Eiji looked up at his mom. "And I'm not sorry for what I've done."

His face was set into that stubborn set of lines, lips pursed and eyebrows crinkled down until they nearly obscured his vision all together.

His mother laughed. "I know," She patted his cheek and when she removed her hand, she frowned.

"Honey, you're bleeding."

Eiji allowed his mother to stick a band-aid on his cheek when they got home.

* * *

Despite his mother insisting that she understood the reason for her son's actions, he was still banished to his room for the rest of the day and "until that scratch goes away. If that boy has to suffer because of his injuries, so will you."

And so, when the rest of the Kikumaru clan wondered where Eiji was at dinner and wondered if perhaps he was at Fuji's house for the first time, the parents shook their heads and explained. The kids took it in stride, hardly blinking when they were alerted to the fact that Eiji was in trouble and the reason for his needing punishment. They were invited to read the letter that the red faced principal had sent them home with that spelled out exactly Eiji's punishment, but they all declined, proclaiming that they had better things to do with their time than to read another one of those letters. And so life went on that night for the Kikumarus.

Eiji himself, while dusk settled in with his family for dinner, was busy pacing in his room. It wasn't a particularly heated march, nor was it angry nor depressed nor thoughtful. It was just a thing to do, his room cleared by his mother of anything interesting to do.

It was a new thing to Eiji, this whole "Banished to his room" bit. On all previous occasions he had been forced to sit with the family, as he had been all too fond for his room and rarely ever came out. He decided now that he'd rather be banished to the family room. At least he'd be able to hear the noise from dinner and he might be able to pretend that he had some human company. It was a startling revelation to him to discover that he actually craved human attention. His former self shirked in the face of family- or human- contact.

He decided that his former self was an idiot.

Still, he was bored. As the descending sun glinted off his huge windows, he shrugged to himself. His parents didn't know about his escape route through the windows. He could slip out his window and be back before his family finished dinner.

So he did.

* * *

A quick jog brought him to the park. It had been what seemed like ages to Eiji since he had been there. It was emptying now, the last cars putting of their parking spots, the sun glinting dully off of the window shields as the drivers swung around for home. Most sane people were eating at this hour, but Eiji had scarfed down his food the moment his mother brought it up to him. After his tennis match with Oishi, he hadn't been able to finish his lunch.

There was a dull _thunk_-ing noise that stopped Eiji's fantasizing about cheeseburgers. Without anything better to do, and with a curiosity that had killed many a more graceful cat than Eiji, he pranced forward until he found the source of the noise.

He wasn't at all surprised by what he saw.

It was Oishi and his ever present tennis racquet, clobbering away at balls against a giant dumpster. Eiji watched him, puzzled for a few seconds as to why the ball wasn't ricocheting wildly—the bin was hardly smooth. If Eiji's memory was correct, dumpsters were covered in an almost corduroy-like pattern—a square bump followed by an equally square valley. But Eiji's keen eyes picked up on Oishi's swings and noticed a slight flux in the movement. It took Eiji more than a few seconds to realize that Oishi was aiming, and longer still to realize that Oishi was aiming for the valleys where, just barely big enough to fit, the ball would bounce and return to him.

It didn't happen every time, though, and as one ball skewed off at an odd angle, Eiji jumped and picked the ball out of the sky. He offered the ball to Oishi, who was still understandably surprised to see Eiji there.

"Nice shots," Eiji commented.

"Thanks…" Oishi said back.

The two fell into a slightly awkward silence, which Oishi broke after considerable back-of-head scratching on his part.

"I heard you got in a fight today," said Oishi sheepishly.

Eiji nodded, tapping the bandage on his cheek. "Yep. And I got a souvenir from it too."

Oishi blushed as he spoke the next words.

"Fuji-senpai told me you got in the fight because someone was talking about me."

Eiji nodded, to taking his turn to scratch his head awkwardly. "Er…yeah… Well, you see, I have a justice meter high, so…"

"Thanks," Oishi told him, grinning widely and sincerely, "For sticking up for me."

Eiji laughed. "Well, it came at a price—a steep one. The principal assigned me a month's worth of community service. I don't know what kind it is, but if I get stuck accidentally pounding my fingers instead of nails, know that I'm doing it at your expense."

Oishi and Eiji laughed easily for a few seconds, then fell back into a less stressed silence. Still, Eiji wasn't one for silences.

"Good game today, by the way. I never got to tell you that."

"Oh, thanks. I had a killer time too."

"Yeah, it was good to finally play someone challenging."

Oishi's eyes narrowed in confusion. "Aren't you friends with Fuji-senpai?"

Eiji was puzzled that Oishi kept calling Fuji "senpai" when they were in the same grade, but shrugged it off.

"Yeah, I'm friends with him." Eiji answered, not sure what Fuji had to do with anything.

"Well then you must have played him before!" Oishi exclaimed, eyes far off, as if imagining what it would be like to play with Fuji. "He's certainty a challenge."

Eiji shook his head. "I've never played with him. I mean I've hit walls back and forth with him, but once things start to get too serious he finds an excuse to stop. I don't even know how good he is."

Oishi's eyes had widened to the size of his tennis racquet. "He's really good! I think the only one who can beat him is Tezuka-senpai."

_Again with the Senpai!_ Eiji thought.

"Well, I'll 'probly just stick with kids more my skill," Eiji offered, closing the discussion of Fuji. He was slightly perturbed that he had no idea how good his best friend was at a sport they had spent the summer playing. "We two are pretty good, and you're more than a challenge for me."

Oishi leaned back on the trash can, a dreamy look entering his eyes. "Yes. We'd even make a rather good team if I do say so myself."

The thought struck Eiji like a million angry hornets.

"That's it!" Eiji heartily shouted, punching his fist into his palm. Oishi jumped back, managing to whack his shoulder on the large metal can as he did so.

"That's what?" He asked, nursing the growing bruise.

"We should be doubles partners! There's so much I could learn from you!"

Oishi rather like the idea, so he stuck out his hand, disregarding the ebbing pain.

"I wouldn't be against it," He said proffering his hand to seal the deal. Eiji took it with the widest grin Oishi had ever seen smeared across his face. It looked liable to extend to his ear canals.

"Then from this day forward," Eiji said as they shook hands, "Until I beat you, Oishi, you'll be my doubles partner."

Oishi nodded his fond agreement.

And so the Golden Pair was born.

* * *

Oh no peoples, this is not the end, no not by a long shot. Or present Eiji is hardly the bouncing boy of unceasing happiness we know and love. He just beat up a kid and he still speaks seriously. And he's still wearing that band-aid on his nose—that means that he hadn't let go of Ken, Jin, and his Yankee ways quite yet.

And what about Fuji? We still haven't learned why the crap he's being so dang temperamental about his tennis. Uptight little bugger's still gotta loosen up a bit.

And most importantly, I bet all of you want to know what in the world Eiji is going to do for community service. I bet that was at the top of your mind, wasn't it. :D

R and R please. You've already done the first R. You're halfway there!


	14. Chapter 14

_I am actually writing this from the house of some kids I am babysitting. They are all asleep now, and I should be too, for I have to get them up for school tomorrow, but if I know that if I don't start writing, I never will, and I will be gone on another two month vacation and will probably never return. That, and it's kind of fun to type on other people's computers (especially since they have shift-keys on their keyboard that work and a mouse that doesn't double-click everything. [:)_

_And without any further adieu, I present you with the next chapter. Yay! Aren't you proud? Oh, and about the song. It's from a Harry Potter musical. I suggest you watch a Very Potter musical. It's pretty much the greatest creation alive. :D_

* * *

**The Life and Times of Kikumaru Eiji**

Chapter Fourteen

_This must be how it feels_  
_to have a home_

_I've finally made it_  
_I've hoped and I've waited_  
_and for the first time in my life, I don't feel so alone_

_My heart starts to heal_  
_to know that it's real._  
_This is how it must feel_  
_to have a home!_

_-To Have a Home, _A Very Potter Sequel

* * *

As was the custom in times of peace and happiness, Eiji's life fell into a bit of a groove, a well-worn track, so to speak, that he lived his life in. Every day fed into the next with the same fluidity, the same easiness as the day before, and without realizing it, the weeks flew by like jets gone wild. But Eiji didn't mind. He had never been so happy since… well he couldn't remember a time he had been so happy as he was then. Life was easy, his joys, simple, and his life elicited a mood like unto a sleepy country town: Everything moved at its own pace, nothing hurrying anything along, because nothing was in a hurry to get anywhere. Eiji ate well, Eiji slept well, Eiji learned well, Eiji grew well, Eiji made friends well. Life was good, and Eiji didn't know what was making it so, but he hoped that whatever deity was blessing him with such wonderful times wouldn't stop any time soon.

Even school became less of a chore, as Eiji started listening to the lessons. It seemed that the teachers actually had something to say, Eiji learned, and they weren't just there to waggle their mouths and fingers at him. Some of them were actually pretty cool, like his science teacher who had made a cabbage explode once. Eiji had joined in the class's roar of applause, grinning with some sort of wild giddiness that had taken over him all at once. As he continued to clap with his class, he looked to the group of boys that seemed a lot like Ken and Jin and couldn't help but shake his head. It must be so hard to be so angry all of the time. They were trying to hard to live up to their idea of "cool" that they had no time to enjoy themselves. Eiji couldn't believe that only a few months ago, he would have been scowling at the teacher and his flaming cabbage, not smiling madly like he was now. He found he was glad of the change.

In the past, Eiji had been stuck with only his two friends, not because he hadn't wanted more, but because the two friends he did have scared away the rest of the school. Even before Ken and Jin, when Eiji had been a bit more of a happy child, it had been a time when everyone played with everyone, regardless of anything, so he hadn't noticed when people ignored him. But now, things were different for him. People actually came up and talked to him. They asked him about his band-aids most of all, but even after that conversation was over and done with, Eiji found the people lingered, and soon enough, they found other things to talk about. It was easy, this being friendly business, Eiji thought giddily to himself when a group of boys had gathered around his desk to look at some jumping beans Eiji had brought from home. He didn't know why he had bothered being a sourpuss before—that had only brought him truckloads of misery and self pity. Being nice made his self-esteem grow. Slowly, throughout the weeks, Eiji found his circle of friends growing. And of course, there were Fuji and Oishi.

He and Oishi, despite Eiji's rocky start with the other boy, grew to be fast friends in a matter of days. Though Oishi wasn't in Eiji's class at school, they were always partners at practice when the first years actually got to play. Fuji was off playing with someone else—not Tezuka, as he had made the regulars, much to Eiji's distaste—but Eiji didn't mind. He had gathered from others that Fuji was a few rungs up on the tennis ladder. So Eiji contented himself with facing Oishi. Occasionally in the evenings, the two boys would meet at the dumpster in the park or hit balls back and forth to each other at the court. Eiji was careful not to use Court Two on such occasions—that was his and Fuji's court.

Fuji and Eiji were an odd pair. If anyone saw the two, they would never match the two up for being best friends. Fuji was the more athletic of the two, but didn't look it. He pushed ahead of the rest of the group while running, maintaining a respectful distance from his upperclassmen, and finished the allotted jogging distance without running out of breath. Eiji was the louder of the two, and the most friendly. While Fuji was reserved and somewhat tightlipped, Eiji was growing more and more flamboyant by the day. Fuji was the natural scholar and, Eiji hated to admit it, rather good at everything, while Eiji cruised by on cruise control, placing his trust in Fuji to get him through class. It seemed that Eiji and Oishi did more hanging out outside of school, while Fuji was off doing goodness knows what, but that didn't change a thing between the two. Though they had only been friends for a few months, they had a connection. Yes, they were an odd pair, but when the two were seen together, it didn't seem odd at all. Apart, they seemed total opposites, but when they were sitting next to each other in class, Eiji laughing loudly and Fuji smiling a his ever-present smile, there didn't seem anything odd about them at all.

* * *

It was one or two weeks after Oishi and Eiji had sealed their deal that Eiji's mother alerted him to some news. It was a day after that that she alerted him to another piece of news.

Eiji walked in from school and dropped his backpack off at the closet. Fuji and Minoru were outside looking at some sort of bug and Eiji, in a hurry to get at another sort of grub, tottered in after the girls. He was headed for the kitchen, when he spotted his mother, sitting on a recliner with her legs crossed and her eyebrows serious. She was looking right at him, so Eiji knew she wanted to talk to him. With a sigh, he veered off left into the TV room that was connected to the kitchen. She patted the other recliner and he sat down, wishing that she would hurry so he could eat. On her lap was a letter, folded into thirds.

"Yes mother?" Eiji asked as he plopped down into the chair. He heard Fuji and Minoru enter the house and vaguely wondered when Isamu would be getting home. As Fuji and Minoru thumped up the stairs to Minoru's room, Eiji's mother started talking.

"As you can see, I have received a letter," she said, holding up what looked like rather heavy paper. Eiji nodded.

"I can see that." Eiji said, wondering if the letter was about him and if not, why in the world his mother was talking to him. His stomach let out a particularly loud growl and his mother smiled at it for a second before her mouth turned into a thin line again.

"In this letter it gives more details as to your punishment." She looked down at it, as if searching for a particular line.

"Punishment for wha—Oh," Eiji suddenly realized this was about his punishment for beating up the kid, something he still didn't feel too bad about. "Well, what does it say?"

His mother looked over the letter once more, then turned to her son. "You'll be helping out a local business everyday after school for the next month," She explained.

Eiji's spirits sunk. He had been hoping to at least do some outdoor community service—pound some nails, cut down some trees— but a business? With people in stuffy suits and ties? He blanched at the thought of ties. He hoped desperately that he wouldn't have to wear one.

His mother handed him the letter. "You can read over it later," she said, patting him on the shoulder then standing. "Right now I think you should go get something to eat."

At that moment, Eiji's stomach uttered another complaint, about four times louder than the rest of the others and both couldn't help but smiling.

"I left some popcorn on the counter," his mother said as she started to walk off. She paused for a second, remembering something else. "Oh, and a letter came for you. It's from Ken and Jin."

Ken and Jin. Eiji had been keeping in contact with them through the mail, but in all truth, his heart hadn't really been in it for the last few weeks. They wrote sporadically at best and most of the time their letter just reminded him of things he didn't want to remember. He liked his life here and things were so much better where he was that their letters did nothing but dampen his mood. But they were his friends, and loyal ones at that, if sometimes cranky, moody, grouchy and whiney, so Eiji felt obliged to write back whenever he got a letter.

Eiji found the letter on the kitchen counter, next to the popcorn his mother had told him about. Minoru had evidently finished showing Fuji whatever he had wanted to show him, for Fuji joined Eiji at the table for a snack shortly after Eiji finished talking with his mother.

"What's that?" Fuji asked, pointing to the letter with a piece of popcorn.

"A letter," Eiji said a bit glumly, tearing the letter open with little zeal.

Fuji's face was as impassable as ever. "Oh, well you don't seem too happy to have gotten one."

Eiji shook his head. "It's from my old friends. They're starting to bug me with their letters."

He shook the letter out of the envelope then quickly read the letter inside.

_Hello Kikumaru_. It started. Eiji recognized the handwriting as Jin's and wondered if Ken had even been a part of the letter writing.

_Yeah, things are pretty much the same here. School is a drag. Our new teachers are pretty good, but I'd still rather be outside than sitting in a stuffy school building all day. Not much has changed. You're lucky to be away. I know I wish I was. Ken is really starting to drive me up the wall. He's been even more rude than usual._

_Hmmm… Now that I think about it, a bit has changed. Since junior high started Ken and I haven't been in the same class, so I've made some new friends. I haven't seen him for a long time. Sometimes we meet at the fort (By the way, I've sent you another branch from the fort. The one you have must be crispy right now) but in all honesty I don't ever really hang out with him anymore compared to how we used to be basically connected at the hip. We were supposed to hang out this weekend, but he has family coming up for the weekend so that plan went out the window._

_I'm missing you pretty badly over here. You sound like you're having a blast in your new place. Keep me updated (and sane)! Write back._

_-Jin_

Eiji held the letter in his hands for a few seconds, contemplating the words written on it. Fuji had plucked the branch from the fort out of the envelope and was examining it carefully in order to avoid being pricked by the sharp leaves.

The letter seemed friendly enough. There was nothing inadvertently malicious like the previous letters had been full of. Instead the letter was filled with a slightly pleading voice. Jin seemed to genuinely miss him, which wasn't hard for Eiji to picture at that moment. Ken had always been the more aggressive.

Eiji was interrupted from his musings when Fuji asked "What's this?"

He was holding the twig, spinning it carefully from the tip where it had been cut from the fort.

"That's… a branch." Eiji answered. He had been about to tell Fuji about the fort, but for some reason, he still felt the urge to keep it his and Jin and Ken's secret. That was a part of his other life and he found that he was uncomfortable with sharing that with Fuji. That Eiji—_Kikumaru_, he was called—was a different Eiji than Fuji knew. And Eiji liked the separation that existed. Moving away gave him a new start. He didn't need Fuji knowing things about his other self, even if it was as harmless as a fort.

Fuji shrugged. "I can see that," he said, but he didn't push for an answer and for that Eiji was grateful. After he took the branch back from Fuji, Eiji gave it a little squeeze. It was good to have.

* * *

Eiji and Fuji finished their homework an hour before dinner. They had goofed off for a while after eating popcorn, but had settled down for homework soon after that. After Fuji had gotten back in from taking out the trash and Eiji from taking the dog up the street for a brief walk, the boys had a conference together to figure out what to do. They were bored, there was nothing on TV, Isamu and Minoru were hogging the gaming console and Fuji and Eiji had been ordered to find something to do after they had been nearly trampled by Eiji's dad bringing in that night's groceries.

"We could… take the dog on a walk?" Fuji suggested, laying on his stomach in the front room.

"I already did that," Eiji sighed as he picked at the carpet. "We could… go to your house."

Fuji shook his head. "No go."

Eiji was slightly disappointed. He had only been to Fuji's house that one time, when they had picked up his clothes the first time he had stayed with them. Eiji was rather keen to go back, but he had never gotten the chance. Fuji seemed determined to keep him away from there.

"We could… go up to the park and play tennis. Maybe Dina will be there!" Eiji perked up. He hadn't seen or heard from Dina in a few weeks.

But Fuji shook his head. "She won't be there."

Eiji narrowed his eyes at Fuji. "Downer. How do you know she won't be there?"

Fuji shrugged, flipping over onto his back to stare at the ceiling. "She's up visiting relatives this weekend."

Eiji was about to ask Fuji how he knew where Dina was, when Eiji's mother popped her head over the couch to look at the boys on the ground, seeming to count the blades on the ceiling fan.

"You boys need something to do? I have now enlisted you to help me cook dinner."

The boys groaned, but it was better than nothing, so they rose from their respective positions on the floor and tromped into the kitchen to help prepare that night's dinner.

* * *

The next day when Eiji go home from school, he was nervous. The day was the first of his month of community service. He didn't know what in the world the day would hold for him.

Fuji, for the first time in weeks, hadn't walked home with Eiji. While sometimes he would hang around the house when Eiji wasn't there, it seemed that Fuji thought it would be weird for him to be there while Eiji was at community service. He waved Eiji off at the corner and started the trek up to his house.

Eiji was the first one through the door. Oddly, his mother, who was usually at work this time of day, was standing there in the office off of the entry way. She smiled, and waved the pack of her children in.

"Eiji, go up stairs and change out of your school clothes," She said, kissing him on the cheek where there wasn't a band-aid. "Then come back downstairs into the living room. I have something to tell you."

As Eiji hurried up the stairs, he heard his mother ask, "Everyone into the living room. How long until Isamu gets home? I need you all in here."

* * *

Isamu got home about the same time Eiji jumped down the last step. Eiji slipped on his socks, and Isamu managed to catch him, his normal sad face breaking into a smile. "Happy to see me?" He asked.

"Er…" Eiji answered, but was saved from answering when his mother called up the hall:

"Isamu? Is that you? Come into the living room!"

Eiji trotted after Isamu, feeling dwarfed by his brother's height. Sure, Isamu was a lot older than Eiji, but it was unfair just how tall he was. Minoru was more of a stocky build, and only a few inches taller than Eiji, so Eiji decided to sit next to him on the couch, just to make himself feel a bit better. Sitting next to his sisters, who both shared Isamu's height, would have made Eiji feel worse.

When the kids had gathered and filled every seat in the living room, Eiji's mother stood in the center of the half circle they formed and clasped her hands. She was smiling a smile that let Eiji know she had some big news—news that most likely wouldn't make him happy. She had had that look when she had told the family that they were moving. Eiji decided that maybe not looking at her would make the news a bit less worse, so he trained his eyes on the TV behind his mother's head that shared a wall with the door to the guest bedroom.

"I'll cut to the chase kids," she said, swinging her arms at her sides, then clasped them behind her back. "We're going to have two permanent house guests."

Eiji's eyes snapped off of the TV and onto his mother's face. Permanent guests?

"Fuji?" Airi asked, naming who everyone had been thinking. Except Minoru, it appeared, who snorted. "Fuji basically lives at our house anyway. He doesn't need to move in."

"Who is moving in?" Michi asked, obviously annoyed that her siblings weren't taking the matter seriously. Michi took everything seriously.

"Your grandparents. We're going up there in a couple weeks to help them move out of their apartment."

It took a few seconds to let the information sink in. Their grandparents were going to be living in their house. That was an odd thought. They'd have to survive the trip back to where they used to live, most thought with annoyance. But then another thought struck them…

"Whoa!" Minoru cheered, and Michi seemed to be sharing in his knowledge. Isamu, Airi and Eiji, who were still mulling over the fact that they had to share a house with their grandparents, looked at them.

"Exciting, I know," Eiji's mother smiled.

"No, no, not that—though it _is_ exciting!" Minoru added, seeing his mother's face fall. "But we're going back to our old town, right?"

His mother nodded.

"So can we get together with our old friends?"

And to this their mother nodded her head vigorously. "Actually, I was hoping that you would. You would be underfoot if you were to stay at the apartment, so I was hoping that you could ask your friends if you could stay with them over night before we head back home. I know it's a lot to ask, but I'm sure your friends wouldn't mind…"

Minoru leaped up and lead the charge to the family phone. There were shouts of protest from the two other Kikumaru kids and they complained that it wasn't fair that Minoru was going to hog the only land line in The Den.

Eiji was the only one who hadn't leaped up. Unlike his siblings, he wasn't in any hurry to spend the night with his friends. He was hoping that if all of his siblings got to stay at a friend's house he would be able to sleep on his grandparent's floor without too much trouble. His grandparents certainly had enough room on the floor; they had a larger apartment than most. There was just the fact that four children and two adults more than normal added up to more floor and couch space than was available. And more bathrooms than were available. Especially when it was remembered that Michi took forty-five minutes, it seemed, to brush her teeth.

Eiji's mother reached around Minoru, who was talking with his best friend on the phone, and rescued her keys from under a pile of wires, a box of plastic bags and a few batteries. She returned to her son, who was still sitting on the arm of the couch.

"Are you ready to go?"

Eiji blinked a few times, as if doing so would retrieve his brain from space, and stood up.

"Hmmm?" He asked, for a moment completely forgetting what he still had to do.

"It's time to go."

"Oh." Eiji remembered.

As they left, Isamu was mounting the stairs. With a smile, he waved Eiji out the door.

"Have fun at community service!" He called after them.

If it had been anyone else saying that, Eiji would have punched him.

* * *

_And so ends this chapter. I would say that that ending was a half-cliffhanger. So it's more like a really steep hill-hanger. Where you get stuck running down hill without being able to stop. Does that make sense? Actually, don't answer that (unless it does make sense to you.) And did you notice how short a time it took for me to update in relation to all my other updating times? And that it was ever so slightly longer? Yep, I rock. However, I only have three weeks until school starts. And I have football practice every day, work every day, three summer reading books to read, three papers to write and one reading log. And that's just the "fun" stuff. After three weeks, then starts school… in which I might as well sign my social life over to the dumpster outside. It's senior year baby, and for some reason I've signed up for the hardest collection of classes I've ever had the "pleasure" to take. And I'm getting my Certified Nursing Assistant Certificate (5:30 to 10 three days a week at a location 30 minutes away from my house.) And I still have football practice every day, games two days a week._

_I'm sure you wanted to know all about my life. But as you see, I will be a busy girl. Le sigh. **Please review**! I need all the encouragement I can get! (Can't you tell by my over punctuation?)_


	15. Chapter 15

Yeah… Thought I'd start sooner, but working on this story at work never happened—instead I actually had to work. Lame, I know. Then football and school happened. But on the plus side I finished all of my summer work! Now I just have to remember how to conjugate Latin verbs and cement in my brain just who Wilhelm Wundt is…. But first I give you a new chapter!

As a side note: if any of y'all are as picky of readers as me, PLEASE, look for typos that I have commited. As I have implied, typos are a crime. If you point them out to me I will go back and fix them. As I have to head off to work right now and wanted to get this out ASAP, I have not edited this. There are probably a million little typos and twice as many big ones. I literally have not even looked over the paper after I typed it. So it is going to be BAD. Really bad. So, please, ALERT ME TO ALL TYPOS!

* * *

**The Life and Times of Kikumaru Eiji**

Chapter Fifteen

_Focus on the self less, and a person will grow selfless_

* * *

The business ended up to be the last thing Eiji expected.

As his mother drove toward the commercial part of town, Eiji began to feel a bit bad about hitting the boy. Not because he felt any sort of remorse for his action, and defiantly not because the boy now kept shooting him dirty looks, but because helping out every day for an hour was going to kill him. He liked outside. He liked light. And those things were scare to be found at offices, or so he had heard. Eiji pictured a tall, angry man, with a face in shadows ordering him to make copy after copy, or to scrub out a toilet. The more and more he thought this way, the bleaker and bleaker the day seemed to grow. It was almost like clouds were scuttling across the sky and all the leaves had suddenly decided to fall off of the trees. For a second, Eiji thought that, maybe next time, he wouldn't take matters like the ignorant boy into his own hands. The moment the thought struck him, he tossed it aside. He was impulsive, and more likely than not, he'd do it again and without regrets.

His mother backed the car into a curbside parking spot and, with a sigh, Eiji pulled his car door open to meet his fate. There was no need to avoid what was coming just as there was no need to promise himself he wouldn't hit someone again—eventually, things would catch up with him.

The storefront. That was the first thing he noticed. It didn't seem to be an office—they were usually located deep in, well, _office_ _buildings_, and not on main sidewalks. This building was actually a store. The next thing he noticed were the wide windows. With two of his troubles assuaged, his mother waved him off, and he moved forward to open the door…

…only to discover that it was already being held open for him.

"Welcome to Animal Earth!"

Eiji's ear reverberated with booming voice, like his eardrums had been struck with a very large, knobby ended stick. Quickly, he looked up to see where the voice was coming from.

His first impression of Mr. Mori was his rather large mustache. It was almost a perfect rectangle, black and bushy. His eyebrows and hair were thin, even balding, but his mustache seemed to be in tip-top shape. Once Eiji had taken in such important information, he let his eyes take in the rest of the man's face. It was round, at odds with his polygonal mustache, and it was full of a wide smile and a beetle black—and sized—eyes.

"Step right in young sir!"

Without realizing he had moved, Eiji found himself standing inside the building. Looking down, he saw that the man had a firm, but friendly grip on his shoulder, and Eiji guessed that that had something to do with his sudden movement.

"Well then!" the old man said, with an undertone of command. "You must be Kikumaru Eiji. The infamous trouble child."

His eyes sparkled as he looked down into Eiji's startled face. "It looks like you didn't get away from your scuffle unscathed."

He poked the band-aids on Eiji's face. The scratches underneath had long since healed, but he continued to wear the band-aids. He had been wearing them for so long they had become as much a part of him as his hair or fingernails—things constantly replaced, but always there.

"Em… almost," Eiji corrected. "I only got the scratch on my cheek from hitting the kid. The one on my nose was my fault. An accident."

For some reason, Mr. Mori found this outrageously funny, and he tilted his head back to laugh for a few minutes, during which Eiji stood awkwardly next to him, tapping his fingers against his leg. It was one of those times that he didn't know what to do with himself and as the odd man continued to laugh, Eiji's discomfort skyrocketed.

The man stopped laughing suddenly, as if he had run out of whatever ingredient it took to make a laugh.

"I'm Mori," He stuck out his hand, which Eiji shook tentatively.

"I suppose you know all about me…" Eiji muttered, but the man Mori wouldn't hear of it.

"Now that's no way to introduce yourself. Manners boy. Manners."

"Err…" Eiji was slightly taken aback by the man's handling of this whole volunteer/forced servitude business. "Well, as you know, I'm Kikumaru Eiji… Sir." He added a small bow at the end, remembering that this man, as odd as he was, was his superior.

The man's eyebrows crinkled in confusing. "Don't ever assume people know who you are. It shows a degree of haughtiness, even if that wasn't your intention."

He muttered something about "not bad," then shuffled off.

Then was Eiji's first look at the place he would be spending his time for the next months. Up until then, it had been obscured by a combination of Eiji's small stature and the man's bulk. What he saw was a surprise. Then again, with a name like Animal Earth, what other place could it have been?

Off to one side were rows and rows of dog, cat, gerbil, mouse, bird, iguana, hamster, snake—any sort of animal imaginable—foods. Right along with that came just as many accessories for the pets: hamster cage tubes wound around stacks of shredded wood for their cages ; dog toys, stacked high, would occasionally topple down, domino-ing the next row of squeaky toys to tumble to the ground with a resounding crash. From where Eiji was standing, he could see a wall dedicated simply to holding every kind of leash and collar imaginable. Treats, toys and goodies spilled from every surface in the store. Even the cash register had dog magazines and pet brushes located close-by. But even that wasn't what caught his eye. There was a buzzing sound in the air, and Eiji became aware of glossy glass windows and the animals and noise coming from them.

There were millions, it seemed, of animals sitting behind the clean glass cages, and all of them seemed to be making a sound of some sort. Even the rabbits, which were stereotypically quiet animals, seemed to be making a noise, which added to the tumult of noises going on around him. Everything was making some sort of noise, which, loud or small, added up to a cacophonous noise that grated at his ears. He supposed it would be soothing to some, the sound of nature around him. But not to him.

Eiji had never been particularly fond of animals—his sister had a dog which enjoyed zooming around his room and chewing on his belongings. That being, it didn't surprise him to realize that not even the large windows and the lack of ties would make him excited for his hour of service every day after school. Eiji looked glumly around and even a pair of playing kittens didn't lighten his mood. More than likely, he wouldn't be spending much time in this room anyway. Even pet stores had paperwork, after all.

"Well, boy, are you coming?"

Eiji's train of thought was quickly derailed there as Mr. Mori's head popped back from around a doorframe of what was more than likely an office of some sort. Eiji already dropping spirits burst into flames like a crashed train. Yes, he would be doing paper work.

But to Eiji's immediate delight and surprise, he was lead directly through the office room and into a side room. There was a sink in one corner and a drain in the center and a hose, which Mr. Mori grabbed. He then ushered Eiji out another door next to the sink and into a small grassy area behind the shop. Here he ordered Eiji to attach the hose to the tap on the side of the building. He then motioned to the door they had just come from.

"Back through that door there and through the only other door you haven't explored yet, are the kennels. We keep dogs for their owners for a short time, as well as holding onto a few foster dogs as well, before they're shipped off to proper foster homes. I'm assigning you to give them a bath. Soap's over there."

He pointed to a tiny footlocker-like apparatus by the edge of the fence that encircled the yard. A chime announced the arrival of a customer, so Mr. Mori, with one last smile, turned on the spot and trundled out the door.

Eiji was left not knowing what to do. He stood in the middle of the grass patch for a bit, biting his lip. There was a moment when he considered not doing anything and just jumping the fence, but thought better of it a few seconds later. That path would only land him more community service and probably not in such a cushy job. After all, at least he was outside, which was what he had been halfheartedly hoping for.

So Eiji walked towards the fence, not with the intent to jump it, but rather to investigate the box at the bottom of it. Like Mori had said, inside were about a million bottles of dog shampoo, a few sprinkler heads and a long line with clips at either end, which Eiji pocketed. Eiji also noticed with a small laugh, that there was a bottle of cat shampoo in there too. It didn't look particularly used.

After attaching a sprinkler head to the hose, Eiji took the line and ventured into the building to find the first dog.

The room where they were kept was large and bright, with a window showing the grassy area at one end. The cages, large things with bowls bolted to the floor to avoid uncomfortable spills, lined three sides of the room. The moment Eiji entered the room the dogs perked up their ears and looked at him. There were five dogs in all. They looked comfortable, if bored, but Eiji guessed that came with being stuck in a cage for long periods of time.

Nervously, Eiji clutched the plastic rope, scanning the cages for the smallest dog. His eyes picked him out at once. It was a slightly ugly dog, but Eiji only cared that it was tiny—he could lift and carry it and Michi might have liked to put it in sweaters.

He unhooked the cage and the dog came over to investigate. Eiji clipped the leash hook onto the dog's collar and lead the dog out the door and into the yard.

Bathing the dog was a lot harder than Eiji had anticipated—and the dog a log quicker. The leash was long and when Eiji aimed the hose at it, it scampered off at the first touch of the cold water. After that, it didn't seem to like Eiji as much, and once, when Eiji accidentally dropped the leash, the dog gathered it up in its tiny mouth and ran off, causing Eiji to chase it for a good two minutes.

Eiji slowly got better about his techniques in washing the animals. He learned with the second dog—a dog with a smashed nose and bowed legs— that dogs didn't like water on their faces. He learned with the third dog—one of the same, probably from the same owner, as they were sharing a cage—that the sprinkler head he was using had different settings and instead of blasting the dogs with a jet of compact water, he rained down a gentle shower of water on them. This greatly improved the dogs' reactions to the water.

So by the time he got to the fifth dog—holding onto the collar rather than the leash, as he had learned with dog number four—he considered himself rather a pro at washing dogs, and smugly rubbed the dog dry. It was the biggest of the dogs, a lab, he recognized, and it had seemed to love the shower Eiji had given it. Eiji was having a bit of a hard time getting the water out of its coat, especially since the dog kept working its snout into Eiji's face and licking Eiji's cheeks and forehead.

In the interest of being efficient, Eiji decided to put the shampoo and sprinkler head away before he brought the yellow dog back inside. It seemed content enough to stay where it was and after all, Eiji thought, the area was fenced. There was nowhere for it to run off to anyway. Eiji took the red plastic leash off of the dog, untwisted the sprinkler head and gathered up the shampoo bottles, then wandered back over to the box. Depositing the items back inside, Eiji turned to find something rather drool-y touch his leg.

Looking down, Eiji found the dog looking back up at him with sad brown eyes. It blinked, then dropped a familiar object at Eiji's foot.

A tennis ball.

The dog trotted off a few paces as Eiji bent down to pick up the green ball, smiling.

"You like tennis too, nya?" Eiji asked the dog.

It barked in reply and Eiji fancied that it was saying yes. Until it barked again and Eiji realized what it wanted.

Eiji tossed the ball and the yellow lab, usually so calm, tore off after it, with a happy yip. Seconds later, Eiji found the ball back at his feet.

Back and forth the ball went. Eiji's smile grew larger and larger. As he picked up the ball for the umpteenth time, the dog panting with joy, he patted it's broad head.

"You, dearest doggy, are the tennis partner I never expected that I'd have."

The dog barked, then scampered off after the ball again, seeming to confirm the fact that, yes, fetch was the dog version of tennis.

* * *

Sooooooo…. I know I always say that I'll get better with updating. But this time I had reasons! And my reasons are the same as usual. School, football and WORK. Work is mostly the reason that you haven't got a chapter in a while. It's not that I didn't have time to write—I've had this chapter written in a notebook for eons, actually—it's that I never had time to sit down and type. If you'll believe it, I think I have been away from my house for longer than I have been home for the last three weeks.

I know this story was slightly boring, but we had to get the whole idea of Eiji loving animals into the picture. This will also explain why he goes to that pet store so often to root those turtles on! :D (There are also other reasons for the reason I picked this place, but all of those involve plot, and I don't want to ruin _everything_ for you…) Slow as things are now, I promise you that things will be picking up soon! Conflicts are about to arise—possibly in the next chapter! Be prepared!

Thank you to all my readers who have stuck with a lazy writer such as me. Can I tell you a secret? I have over thirty story alerts to this story. Most of those people won't review again, nor will they read, so you are the dedicated few who have stuck with me and guilt tripped me into churning out chapter after painful chapter. :D Really, thank you a ton. I've dropped a whole bunch of hobbies and lost whatever skill I possess. But it's because of y'all that I keep writing and I haven't lost what little talent I have when it comes to storytelling.


	16. Chapter 16

_Over one year from the day that I last updated this story, I am writing this story again. You can blame, or accredit, (whichever you decide to call it,) the resurrection of this story to one NewsLove, who has been dedicated in her reminders that I never finished this story._

_I've lost my story plans for this story, but nothing drives me more mad than a story unfinished. So we are going to work around this roadblock and break into the dawn like a bunch of freed puppies, okay? That made no sense, but I don't care! I'm about to go bowling. I just wanted to get this story started while I still had the motivation._

_It's been a year since I've written. Let's see what I still have in me._

* * *

**The Life and Times of Kikumaru Eiji**

Chapter Sixteen

_There are more pleasant things to do than beat people up—Muhammad Ali_

Dedicated to: NewsLove

* * *

While the school year rushed on, Eiji was content with all but one fact of the way it was going. While he enjoyed working at Animal Earth (which he thought was a terrible name for a pet store) it was a month long, forced servitude. And it was a forced servitude that included Saturdays and Sundays.

It was the day that Eiji first started working at Animal Earth that he and Fuji had decided to restart their Saturday meet ups at the park to play tennis on Court Two. They had to amend their schedule to meet on Sundays, as they had school on Saturdays. But the two had shaken hands, and promised themselves that they would meet every Sunday to practice. Then they had gone their separate ways on the way home, and Eiji had stumbled across a bit of a problem.

He had to work Sundays at the store, which cut into his tennis practicing time. Fuji had said that he would find a way to contact Dina about their renewed practicing times. Eiji was devastated. He hadn't seen Dina in a month, and he was missing her. It was weird, he decided. He didn't think about her often, but when he did, there was a pain like a bird was pecking at his chest, and he wondered if that terror Gakuto was still friends with her.

He told Fuji the next day before school that their pact might have to wait for a while before it started.

"I figured out what my community service is," Eiji whined as he flopped onto Fuji's desk the next morning. "I have to wash doggies at Animal Earth."

Fuji looked down at him, as if wondering why working at Animal Earth warranted such flopping about. Eiji tried to clarify.

"It's for an hour."

Fuji still looked unconcerned.

"It's in the morning. When we're supposed to meet to play tennis."

After this, Fuji's face finally changed, and his mouth curved towards his chin.

"Saa…" He hissed. "This is unfortunate."

"I know," EIji pouted, but as the morning bell rang, he and Fuji were unable to make any more comments to each other. The teacher called the class to attention and everyone took their seats.

Eiji took his seat behind the boy he had punched and who had landed him with all of these problems., The boy flicked a rubber band at him. Used to such antics, Eiji held up a hand to block it and settled in to listening to the lesson. The boy gave him a terrible look, and turned back around to face the teacher. Eiji knew the boy was trying to get to him. But, as Eiji thought to himself: he would be like a fish. Once baited, never caught. Instead he would focus on the lesson and show that boy just how much he wouldn't be irritated again.

As the teacher wrote a long and complicated math problem on the board, Eiji felt his resolve slip, and his head thudded onto his arms. It was going to be another one of those long days.

* * *

He and Fuji met after tennis practice that day and walked home with Michi, Minoru and Airi. There was a subdued feeling in the air. It was only a Monday, but already the Kikumaru children were wiped. Fuji and Minoru made small talk as the group trekked down the hill to their houses, but that was the only sound. When he bid Eiji farewell at the corner, it was only then that Eiji remembered that he had to work at the pet shop.

It was an hour that passed quickly; this time he washed all of the cages out, which was a smelly job. But he was surrounded by birds, and he taught one of them to say his name by the end of his cleaning. Feeling accomplished, and wishing that math was as easy as teaching a bird to speak, he left the shop still slightly moody, but feeling slightly smug at his ability for bird training.

* * *

Fuji provided his intelligence twice over that next day. Eiji walked in that morning, after a quick morning practice with Oishi, and trotted over to Fuji's desk as quickly as possible. At practice that morning, Fuji had said that he had found a solution to their Sunday problems. But between the push-ups and the ladders they had been forced to run, there hadn't been enough breath between the two of them to have a full conversation. That, and Fuji had been paired with another boy, as Eiji and Oishi had taken their doubles partner pact very seriously.

"Oi, Fujiko," Eiji called as he dodged around the puzzle of desks. His friend took quicker showers than he did, and had managed to file all of his things away in his desk before Eiji had entered the room. Eiji perched on Fuji's desk, and gave his friend a wide smile. "What are these plans you have for us?"

Fuji bookmarked a page in his book, and gave Eiji his undivided attention. "It's simple, really." He said, making a teepee of his hands. "We'll just start an hour later! It's no big deal to go one hour later. You can bring your stuff to Animal Earth and have your mom drop you off on your way there!"

Eiji nodded vigorously to Fuji, and slapped a high-five. "Alright!" He shouted, and held up his trademark V sign. "Victory!"

The teacher then called the class to order, and Eiji couldn't have been more thankful for it.

As he marched back over to his seat, on the other side of the classroom, his smile faded, and he resisted the urge to run his hand over his mouth to wipe the fake smile off of his face.

Fuji's idea was good in theory. There was only a slight problem.

No one in his family, aside from Minoru had seen him play tennis. They knew about his obsession for it, that much was certain. But they had never seen him play. There was something embarrassing about them coming to see him. It had been such a well kept secret for so long, and he had never come outright to tell them that he was playing now. But everyday he had a tennis bag slung over his shoulder, and he and Minoru left early for practices.

His playing tennis was a case of quiet acceptance. No one ever really spoke about it, for fear that Eiji would somehow get mad at them for saying something about it, and then quit because "they were teasing him." Eiji could admit that this is how it would have been back when he had first moved here. The family knew that he had changed, but they had tiptoed around the issue for so long that it seemed taboo to bring it up now. Eiji and Tennis weren't like Minoru and Baseball. The family did not go and see Eiji play games.

And so, Eiji's mom dropping him off would be an invitation to go see him play, which is what Eiji wanted to avoid. He wasn't sure if he wanted his parents to see him play, or if he wanted his siblings to see either. Minoru had seen him play, once, but they had never really brought it up again. He felt it would be awkward for his parents to be there, to see him playing, to cheer him on. If he lost, he would be devastated, and if he won, he would have to face the congratulations of his parents. And then they would go out to get his favorite food, and then they would praise him on how well he had played, with either result.

And there just seemed something so… wrong about that whole idea. That was something they did for Minoru and Baseball, or Airi and dancing. And for whatever reason, Eiji felt like his parent's praise would have been falsely felt. He knew that they loved him… but he was also sure that he was happy he was finally finding something he liked to do, so they would cheer him on, regardless of whether he did good or bad.

And he didn't want their false support. He wanted their support because he made them proud, not because they were glad that he had found something besides beating kids up to entertain himself.

He liked Fuji's idea of meeting an hour later. But he decided he was going to ask him if they could meet two hours later, because then he could walk to the park himself. And he wouldn't have to have his mom drop him off and invite herself to see him play—

_SNAP!_

Suddenly, there was a sharp pain in Eiji's eye, and instinctively, he clapped his hands to his face. He let out a hiss.

Through the pain, he realized that he had wandered in thought, all the way over to his desk, had bowed to the teacher, and had sat down again, without even realizing it. He had been so embeded in his thoughts that hadn't even realized where he had gone. He had been staring out into space.

And then he saw the rubber band on his desk.

"Kikumaru," The teacher asked, interrupting the class reading at Eiji's hiss. The entirety of the class had turned to stare at him, and Eiji looked at them through watering eyes. "Are you alright?"

Forcefully, Eiji removed his hand from his eye, and looked the teacher in the eye.

"Yes sir," He answered. "I'm alright, I just poked myself in the eye." He grinned sheepishly, and the class offered him a round of understanding laughter.

The teacher nodded his head, and continued reading. The class turned away from him, and he breathed a sigh of relief. His eye was stinging like it had been used as a pincushion, but he refused to show a sign of weakness. The boy in front of him had slunk down in his seat, and Eiji felt a thrill of victory. He glanced around the classroom, to see if anyone was watching him, as he went to wipe some of the welling moisture from his eye. The girl he had seen on the first day of school was still giving him an even look, and Eiji felt a bit uncomfortable with the look she gave him.

Her eyes flicked to the boy in front of him, and then back to his eye, before she turned back around to face the teacher.

She had been smiling, but it was grim, and he didn't like the look of it.

It took Eiji all of two hours to admit defeat to his eye. He had been trying to hold out until lunch until he would go see the nurse, but as his next class started, and his math teacher wrote problems on the board, Eiji realized that he couldn't see without closing his injured eye. It hadn't stopped watering, but there were blurry spots in his vision that couldn't be attributed to liquid.

After the fourth math problem he couldn't see, Eiji raised his hand.

"Kikumaru?" The teacher asked, surprised that Eiji was raising his hand. Most of the time, Eiji spent math class with a glazed look on his face, but today he had been concentrating awfully hard on the board.

"May I go to the nurse?" He asked quickly, a pain flaring up in his eye as he spoke. "I poked myself in the eye earlier today, and it's still really hurting."

The teacher, still in shock that Eiji had actually participated in class, even if it was to ask if he could leave, nodded her head faintly.

"Yes," she said slightly. "Go right on ahead."

When the nurse at the school couldn't decide what was wrong with his eye, Eiji's father was called in to take him to the hospital.

The doctor diagnosed him with temporary vision loss, and gave him an eye patch to wear over his bad eye for a few days. He told Eiji that he should give his injured right eye a rest for a few days, and then switch the eye patch to his left eye in a few days to give the injured eye a few days to strengthen.

Eiji looked at himself in the white eye patch, in the mirror over the sink of the doctor's office. With the band aid on his cheek, and the band aid on his nose, and the eye patch over his eye, he looked like he had come out on the wrong side of an angry horse.

He had to laugh to himself.

He looked awesome.

Eiji's dad took him home, instead of back to school, and cooked him a bowl of soup. Even though it was from a can, and Eiji wasn't actually sick, he thanked his dad. He propped himself up on the couch, and rested his weak eye, while strengthening his strong eye on the television. As he watched, and slurped his soup, he thought of his friends, trapped back at school, and had a private laugh. He hoped they had fun with the rest of their day, and tennis practice, while he got to sit at home and eat soup.

He felt himself slip sideways, and he realized that his dad had sat down on the couch next to him.

There was a worried look present on his dad's face. Eiji had never considered his dad to look old, but there were more than a few wrinkles on his face. Eiji realized with a start that he must have been the one that had given his dad the worried lines.

"Eiji…" His dad said, clasping his hands. "You don't have to tell me what happened today… but can you tell me this: you aren't getting into trouble again, are you?"

A brief flare of anger swelled up in Eiji. His dad still didn't trust him, after the three months that they had lived here. Hadn't he shown that he had turned his life around?

And then Eiji realized that his dad was tired, and from the way he spoke, sick. The tired man hadn't insinuated anything with his words.

And, Eiji had to admit to himself, he had gotten in a fight, and only a month into the school year. His parents did have a right to be suspicious.

And so, he launched into the tail of how the boy had flicked him in the eye with a rubber band, very hard. He may have over exaggerated a few points, but he was sure his father understood that the boy wasn't actually twelve-seven with a handlebar mustache and twenty-four tattoos. He was just very keen to prove his innocence to his father.

And, he was happy to say, his father believed him.

* * *

As he had been excused from tennis until his eye got better, Eiji didn't have to go to tennis in the mornings. He had also been excused from one day of Animal Earth, but he was expected back the next day, with a warning not to frighten the animals with his appearance. Eiji had laughed when Mr. Mori told him that on the phone, but the silence afterwards made Eiji wonder if Mr. Mori hadn't been completely serious.

Walking into class the next day made Eiji an instant celebrity. His classmates all gathered around him, ohhing and ahhing over his eye patch. Once one girl asked if she could sign the patch, everyone wanted to, and so he allowed them to all very carefully write their names on his eye patch. Even Fuji jovially took up the pen and scratched his name in very tiny letters onto the paper of the patch. The only person who didn't join in was the boy who had flicked him in the eye. He was sitting moodily at his desk,

Eiji made sure to shoot him a few very happy smiles.

Before all of his classmates were done signing their names, the bell rang and the teacher walked into the classroom and good-naturedly told them to leave Eiji alone. Eiji made his way to his desk, but his teacher stopped him halfway there.

"Ah, Kikumaru," he called, and Eiji pivoted on his heels to face his teacher. "You'll be switching with Sautomi; you'll be sitting on the other side of the classroom for a while. You need to be closer to the front, if you want to see."

Confused, he and the boy, Sautomi, exchanged looks, but complied and gathered their things to switch desks.

His new desk was on the other side of the room, as the teacher had stated, and it was directly behind that girl who had given him the weird look the day before. But Eiji was hardly complaining. His new seat was next to a window, and the sun was shining merrily down on him from above.

He turned around in his seat, and looked at Fuji a few rows back. He was now in the same column as Fuji, and so he offered his friend a V for victory. Fuji, for his part, exchanged a smile, but was very distracted by looking at the teacher. His eyes were happy, but they looked calculating too.

Eiji, somewhat curious as to what was making his friend so thoughtful, let the matter slide for the moment.

For at that moment, he was very happy with life.

* * *

_Wow. I bet you guys are completely weirded out to see this chapter in you inbox, or however you get notifications._

_And I'm sorry if this story is completely different than you remember (or don't remember. It's been a while.) I've been gone from it for a long time, and in between this time I've written and finished a different story. My writing style in that story was completely different from the previous writing styles I used in this story, so I'm trying to get my "life and times" narration back. It might take a while!_

_This chapter was also just to get me back into the groove of things. I haven't watched Prince of Tennis for…. Forever, yep for forever, so I might get some details wrong. I'll look over whatever research I did on Eiji before, but I don't know if this story will be as accurate as I wanted it to be._

_I also have to say that the plot will start to pick up again in the next chapter. Like stated, this was for getting me back in the groove of things. There were a few minor plot points brought into being in this chapter, but you can consider this act two of this story. Eiji has acclimatized himself to his new surroundings. Now that he's started school, he has to get used to a new school as well!_

_And I promise you now: that girl I kept mentioning won't become a major player. I need her for one or two things, but this story isn't going to focus on Original Characters of mine. This is a story about Eiji. This girl isn't going to steal his spotlight. I'm saying this because I feel like I mentioned her a ton in this chapter. C;_

_And now, I'm going to bed. I'll reread this in the morning and post it sometime tomorrow! Bonjour!_

_Review please! If you are a new reader: WELCOME!_

_If you are an old reader: Thank you for taking the time to come back to this story! I'm glad that you haven't given up hope in it!_


	17. Chapter 17

_And now, I am back!_

_Thanks to all those who read the last chapter. It was good to see some old faces!_

_And now, I'm off to write the next chapter!_

_IMPORTANT NOTE: I obviously have no conception of time because the time jumps all over the place this chapter. Just know that, by the end of this, there is about a week before they actually go to visit his grandparents. Although, in the end, it won't really matter, because the next chapter is hopefully going to cover that._

* * *

**The Life and Times of Kikumaru Eiji**

Chapter Seventeen

_Friends aren't something that go away when you don't need them_

Dedicated to NewsLove

* * *

Eiji realized that sitting behind angry girl was not as fun as he thought it would be. While it was wonderful to sit in front of Fuji—the teacher assigned group work by rows—the girl kept giving him weird looks. And it made him uncomfortable.

By the third day of sitting behind her, he still hadn't learned her name, and Fuji always eyed her suspiciously, and she would always turn around and look at Eiji randomly throughout the day. Eiji found himself studying the back of her head more than he studied his books, and the teacher threatened to move Eiji back to his old seat after the fourth time he wasn't able to answer the question.

Saturday, he finally had had enough of the awkward eye contact, and decided to ask for her name.

"Fuji," Eiji elbowed Fuji. "Come with me to meet that girl."

He pointed covertly to the girl, who had just come into the classroom. She headed right for her desk and plopped down. She took out a few white flash cards and began to shuffle through them, studying for that day's test.

Fuji raised his eyebrows, and nearly opened his eyes in shock.

"Why do you want to talk to Aida Rei?" Fuji asked, tapping his pencil on his desk. He looked uncomfortably down at it.

"Because you keep giving her weird looks, and she keeps giving me weird looks." Eiji exclaimed. Rei's head shot around to look at them, and Eiji waved innocently. She narrowed her eyes, while a rose tint sprinkled itself across her cheeks. She turned around to study her flashcards.

"Saa…" Fuji muttered, eyeing the back of Rei's head. "That girl has been in my class since first year of elementary. I think—wait, you don't like her, do you?"

Eiji's face turned red, though it was hard to see, what with his face covered in two band aids and an eye patch. Crushes weren't something he and Fuji talked about. They were in seventh grade, just barely teenagers, and so far as Eiji was concerned, girls still had cooties. This particular girl just scared him.

"No, not at all!" Eiji nearly choked, so eager was he to get _that_ subject out of the way.

"Oh," Fuji stopped tapping his pencil on his desk. "Then what do you want to know about her?"

"Why do you keep giving her weird looks?" Eiji asked promptly.

Fuji looked, for a moment, like he didn't want to tell Eiji something. But in the end, loyalty his friend won out, and he told Eiji his suspicions. "I think that she told the teacher why your eye got injured. I think she's the reason you got moved."

The look she had given him that day. That knowing, even look. The flicker of eyes between Eiji and the boy who had once sat in front of him.

It all made sense now, to Eiji.

"I hear she's really over protective of her friends." A classmate had wandered over to where Eiji and Fuji were sitting. He gave Eiji a high five in greeting, and leaned on Fuji's desk, eager to gossip like old washer women. "Why do you want to know Kikumaru? Got a crush?"

Eiji blushed again, and let out a wail. "Why does everyone jump to that conclusion?"

"You know, I can hear you."

The three boys whipped about, throwing glances to find who had spoken to them. They had been so engrossed in their own conversation that, embarrassing as it was, they had forgotten that they were in a busy classroom. Eiji and the other boy looked quickly around, but it was Fuji who first found the voice that spoke. His eyes locked onto Aida Rei, who was turned away from them, still studying her flash cards. The piles had grown, and for a wild moment, Eiji wondered what in the world she could be studying.

"Saa… Aida-san," Fuji intoned. "Sorry about that. We weren't gossiping about you."

"But you sure were talking about me." She turned around to face the three boys, two of whom now had the common courtesy to look abashed. Fuji looked like his regular old self, and was still smiling charmingly at Rei.

Rei had short black hair, and eyes that were darker than that. She was awfully short too, and she reminded Eiji of Dina. They both had similar haircuts and wide, dark eyes. Eiji locked eyes with these dark eyes.

"Right you are!" Eiji grinned, immediately at ease with this girl who reminded him of his favorite female. No longer was she scary. She was just like Dina. He leapt over to her, two desks ahead, stuck out a hand.

"We haven't been properly introduced." He said, as she took his hand to shake. "I'm Kikumaru Eiji, but you can call me Eiji."

The girl looked levelly at him, as if not really believing that someone could really have as much energy as Eiji did. But his smile was infectious and he really did look ridiculous with two band aids and an eye patch, so she had to smile back. She took his hand, and shook it.

"I'm Aida Rei, though Fuji's already told you that, I suppose." She shook his hand with a renewed vigor and shot Fuji a questioning look over Eiji's shoulder. Eiji smiled wider.

"Fuji told me it was because of you that I got moved?" Eiji asked, posing the statement more as a question than he intended.

Rei just nodded, and dropped his hand suddenly. She turned back to her flash cards. "He's right, as usual." And Rei was done talking to him.

So maybe not as nice as Dina. But still a good kid, Eiji decided. She certainly seemed to be smart. She had only one stack of flashcards, so it looked like she had gotten all of the answers right.

Eiji turned back to face Fuji and his random classmate, but his classmate was gone, and Fuji was reading his book. The teacher entered at that moment, and so Eiji was left to ponder his experiences with this new classmate all by himself. It wasn't often that people stopped talking to him. She had smiled at him enough, and had been protective of him enough to ask the teacher to move him. Eiji found, that for the most part, people were like that around him. They liked him, and wanted to be his friend.

He realized just how much he had changed. In three months, he had gone from being that cranky kid with a scowl, who sat in the back, to the person that everyone liked.

He wondered what Ken and Jin would think about that.

About what anyone in his old town would think.

And then he remembered his grandparents.

As the teacher started the lesson, Eiji began to think about what his mother had told the family a few days previously. His grandparents were moving into the spare bedroom downstairs. The family was leaving in a week and a half to go pick them up, and drive them back down to their new home. His brothers and sisters had been in a frenzy of calling friends to go see again. They had all been invited to spend the night at various houses of different people who they missed and who missed them.

All four of them.

But not Eiji.

He wasn't particularly excited to go back to his old town. He was a changed person. He had longer hair; hair that had a soft curl at the ends, like his mothers, and softer eyes, and wrinkles from smiling. And he had an eye patch. And two band aids. He looked like the kids that he used to beat up.

He hadn't called his friends, to meet back up with them. He wanted to go see his fort. The only reminder he had of it was one of the branches that he had been sent by Jin. It had grown crispy in his sock drawer, but he kept it in there. It had once given his socks a nice, homey smell, but now the price he paid for nostalgia was to pick bits of the dead branch off of his socks before he put them on in the morning. He figured that it was a small enough trouble that he could keep the branch in his drawer. But it was beginning to look less like a branch and more like a layer of dust.

Because the fort was the only thing that he really wanted to go back and see. Jin hadn't sent any more letters, though Eiji had half heartedly written him back last time.

Still, Jin's phone number rolled through his head, and he wondered if he shouldn't go see at least him, if he had to see anyone at all. He would have a bummer time if all he did was sit at his grandparents' house. And he would have to help pack.

He had enough packing in the last few months to last him a lifetime.

He knew then that he needed to do something about his trip.

He would not be stuck packing.

"Kikumaru!"

His name rang out across the classroom, and Eiji's strong heart fluttered a little bit in dread. He had been caught not paying attention, again, it seemed.

"Hai?" He asked, his chin shooting off of his elbow so quickly that he nearly put a crick in his neck.

"Care to answer question four?" The teacher asked. He looked tired, and Eiji knew that today hadn't been the best day not to pay attention.

"Err…" Eiji tried to sneak his book out of his desk, but unfortunately, it was a desk with a lid that had to be lifted to get items out of its bowels. As Eiji lifted his desk, the teacher sighed.

"Kikumaru." He wiped his face with his hand. There was no sweat on his face, but Eiji caught onto the gesture. He was tired of something, and Eiji guessed that it was him.

Again, Eiji promised himself that he would pay attention in class, but knew that it wouldn't happen.

"Starting tomorrow, before school, clapping erasers. Until I feel like you've learned your lesson."

* * *

Fuji stayed for dinner, and it was almost like old times in the summer. Even eating his mother's favorite food—which was everyone's least favorite food—wasn't so bad with Fuji there. Fuji hadn't been back in a while, what with Fuji's father being back and Eiji working at the pet store. He had gone to visit Eiji while Eiji fed the birds at the store and had decided to walk Eiji home. Before he had been able to dismiss himself, sadly and politely from the house, Minoru had grabbed him by the arm and dragged him up to the family rec room for a video game tourney. The table had been set, and with one extra setting at the table, it was decided that Fuji would be staying.

"You haven't been around much, Fuji," Isamu stated between bites of rice—the only thing the family dared eating.

Fuji seemed perfectly content to scarf down the disgusting dinner. "My father has been back," he answered simply, scooping more of the food into his mouth.

While Eiji's mother continued on in conversation with Fuji, the rest of the family watched in awe as Fuji continued to place mouthful after mouthful of food into his mouth. How he was able to eat it, the family had no idea. Airi whispered to Eiji that Fuji was probably just being polite, and Minoru said something to the affect that Fuji's taste buds had been severely damaged as a child.

"Oh?" Eiji's mother was perfectly content to eat the disgusting food as well. She didn't seem to notice her husband slowly unloading his plate on to hers. "Is your father away often?"

Fuji, however, noticed what Eiji's dad was doing, and he grinned. "Yes, he is. But I don't mind. He left again yesterday night."

"Well we hope to have you around our house more often then," Ms. Kikumaru stated. She and Fuji both took a bite of food at the same time.

"Yes, we do." Eiji muttered, and while his mother wasn't looking, he scooped some of his food onto Fuji's plate.

His siblings looked very, very upset that none of them were sitting by Fuji.

* * *

It was a week later, and Eiji still hadn't called any of his old friends. He blamed it on his schedule. Though his eye wasn't healed yet, he was still required to attend tennis practice in the morning, until he had to go clap erasers for his teacher. Then there was the pet shop, and then Fuji came over and he lost track of time.

So with four days to go before his trip, he still didn't have anyone to see, or any friends to meet.

He admitted to himself: it wasn't because of his schedule that he wouldn't call. Sure, it was an excuse. But there was just no one that he wanted to see enough to call. It was awful, but true.

As he clapped erasers that Saturday morning before school, he pondered on his problem, and tried to think up a solution. But either he had slept through the problem solving lesson at school, or there was no solution to his problem. Because by the time the air was full of chalk dust, Eiji's brain was full of dread for the upcoming week.

Eiji continued to think for all of school. He must have had a look of extreme concentration on his face, because none of his teachers bothered him about not paying attention. Little did they know that Eiji's brain was far away from the Meiji period and matrix rotations. They took his staring at his books to mean that he was finally interested in their subjects.

* * *

That Sunday, Dina and Fuji were waiting for him on the Court 2. Court 3, which they usually used, was being hogged by a community tennis lesson, and so the three were forced to play on Eiji and Fuji's special court. Still, it was nice to get back into the swing of things, both literally and figuratively. Though his eye wasn't healed, Eiji was delighted to play tennis again. Though depth perception proved hard with only one eye to his name, but he managed to have a good time. Even if he had played his worst game, Eiji was certain that with Dina and Fuji there, he could have walked away with a smile on his face.

They played a slow and easy game. Dina and Eiji faced Fuji, who managed to match them pace for pace. His ease of play was helped by the fact that Eiji was over zealous about hitting the ball, which kept being hit out of bounds. Dina seemed content to let Eiji hit the ball, though it never landed where he aimed, and Fuji seemed content just to be with the two of them. So, all in all, the three were content, and when Eiji and Fuji said goodbye to Dina to go back to the Den to eat, they were all smiling. Dina even gave both boys a hug goodbye, which pleased Eiji greatly.

After Fuji left after dinner, though, Eiji wasn't as content. With four siblings all excited to return "home," the dinner conversations had all centered around what they were going to when they got back, and who they were going to see. Fuji and Eiji both pushed food around their plates—they both had nothing to add to the conversation.

Going to bed that night, and looking up at the bunk bed that Fuji had spent the summer on, Eiji felt a growing sense of dread for the trip. He was now getting along better with his siblings and wouldn't have minded just spending the time with them. But even Isamu, who always looked out for Eiji, was going to hang out at his best friend's house. Eiji was sure that even Isamu would be hesitant to give up an opportunity to see his friends, just because Eiji needed someone to help him not feel lonely.

As Eiji stared up at the bed, he realized just how thankful he was for his friends here. Especially Fuji. He was a member of the Fuji family in name only, as it appeared to the Kikumaru family. Fuji was really their odd brother, who didn't have red hair or the same last name.

Ken and Jin were nothing like that.

As Eiji kept pondering thoughts too big for his seventh grade mind, it became more and more difficult for him to sleep. He spent more time rolling from spot to spot than he spent in any one spot. It was a time where he felt so frustrated that he could have cried, if he wasn't such a grown up boy, who refused to let the tears come.

Why had he been such an idiot when he was a younger?

When rolling around wasn't enough, he finally stood, and pulled on his sneakers. Silently, he slid his window open and descended down the drain pipe. It was a feat he hadn't done since he had started exiting through the front door, but it felt good. Hot because of anger, and because of poor sleeping habits, the approaching winter breeze felt good on his skin, and already he knew that going outside was helping.

With nowhere else to go, but not wanting to think, Eiji set off at a light jog. His feet took him where they always did: to Court 2. It was 11:00 on a Sunday night, so there weren't many people around. Only a few older people were hitting a pink tennis ball back and forth on a flood-light lit court. Eiji didn't have a racquet, but he stood next to the net of Court 2, just to savor the feeling of being there.

When standing still became boring, and he had taken in all there was to Court 2, he decided he felt calmed down enough to head back home. There were still problems in his brain, but the jog, and the standing had done him wonders. Still, he picked up his feet in a quick pace to jog back home. If he wanted to get any sleep for school the next day, he was going to need to be at least a little bit tired.

When he was nearly out of the park, he heard a noise that piqued his interest. There was a dull thudding noise, and a "_twank"_ sound that was coming from somewhere above him. Deciding that a little more exercise wasn't going to kill him by any means, he backtracked a few paces, until he found himself at the foot of a small hill. It was the hill that the entire park was centered around. The one with a set of swings, and a picnic table and a dumpster set atop it.

It was a short run to the top, but it left him a little bit breathless. He allowed himself three deep breaths before he discovered what was making the odd noise.

He found out what it was much sooner than that.

"Oi, Kikumaru?" Came the surprised voice.

Eiji, who had bent down to catch his breath, jerked his head up.

"Oishi?" He cocked his head to one side.

"What are you doing here so late?" Oishi asked, swinging his racquet nervously by his side. It was obvious to anyone that he had been practicing tennis, but Eiji shot back the same question.

"I could ask you the same thing." Eiji stated, now standing to his full height.

"I was practicing, and I lost track of time." Oishi blushed, and scratched the back of his head.

"You sure are dedicated, aren't you?" Eiji asked, peering at the dumpster that Oishi had been using as target practice. "JEEZ!"

He had spotted all of the scuff marks that the ball had left, and the chips in the paint from when Oishi had accidentally hit it with his racquet.

Oishi scratched his head again. "Ah, yes. I guess you could say that."

"How much longer are you going to be practicing?" Eiji asked, touching a dent in the trash can, and hoping it wasn't from Oishi hitting a ball at it. It would have had to have been a hard hit, so deep was the dent.

"I have a few more repetitions," Oishi seemed calmer now, now that he was talking about his schedule. He seemed to be a child that thrived on schedules.

"Nya," Eiji grinned. "Then I'll wait for you. Do you mind if I watch? After all, I'll need to beat you if I ever want to play singles again!"

Oishi blushed again, but more because he was shy than because he was embarrassed. He nodded, though, and Eiji clambered atop the dumpster where he would get a better look at Oishi's form.

"Now because you're watching, I won't play as well…" Oishi muttered and he looked up at Eiji. "I don't do so well in the spotlight."

Eiji hummed, but then had a happy thought, which he shared. "That's why you and I will make wonderful doubles partners! You call the shots, and I take the spotlight. We both know you're better. But other people don't have to know that. They'll think I'm better. That way we both get what we want." Eiji was half teasing, but half serious, and Oishi knew it. He smiled up at Eiji, who shot a V sign down to him.

"You're always happy," Oisho told him, looking up in wonder. "Is there ever a time when you aren't happy?"

Eiji fought with himself for a moment, on whether or not to tell Oishi about his problems. Sure, Oishi was a nice boy, but all they ever talked about was tennis, if they ever talked at all. Oishi was shy and not much prone to talking. Sure, he had spent a lot of time with Oishi, but theirs was a relationship built around tennis.

But, Eiji finally decided. If they were going to have a friendship based off of anything but a sport, it had to start somewhere.

So he told Oishi about his problems.

"I'm not happy right now," he said as he frowned to prove his point. Oishi stopped before he hit his first ball, to look up at Eiji.

"You aren't?" He asked, obviously a bit shocked.

Eiji shook his head sadly, but then paused. "Well… I'm happy, but distressed…

"See, Oishi, once upon a time, I wasn't the happy kid you know now. You know those kids that pick on four year olds and look like they have something smelly under their noses all the time? I was one of those kids. And until I moved here, I only had two friends. I'm realizing now that they were kind of lame friends, too…

"So, what's making me upset is this: my family is going back for a visit, and my siblings are always talking about who they're going to go see, and why they're so excited to go back.

"The only problem is… I'm not that excited to go back."

Oishi had crawled on top of the dumpster to sit next to Eiji. His tennis racquet was on the ground, propped up against the bin.

"It sounds really silly, I know, and it shouldn't cause me this much stress," Eiji laughed, more at himself, than to himself. "But I wasn't able to go to sleep tonight. There's something about going back that's making me upset… and I think it's more than me just not wanting to see my old friends again. Or more than being upset about not having people excited to see me, or that my siblings will ditch me. I think it's because I don't want my friends to see how much I've changed… or I don't want to admit to myself how much I have changed."

Eiji was silent for a while, trying to place his true feelings. His thirty-two seconds he had spent talking to Oishi had opened his eye-patched eyes to a whole new idea on why he was feeling so upset about the upcoming trip.

"I don't know exactly how to put it…" he disclaimed, and began to think.

Oishi was silent for a moment, but then began to talk in his quiet way.

"I might be completely wrong," Oishi began, "But I think I might know what you're feeling. Going back is going to prove to yourself that you are a new person… which you aren't upset about."

Eiji nodded, and Oishi continued.

"What makes you upset is the fact that it took you so long to become this different person. You know you're happier now, and you're upset at yourself for living unhappily for so long."

Eiji was grinning now, happy to finally have his feelings put into words. There was something magical about the way that saying something, getting it out in the open, made life that much more easy to bear.

"Oishi, you are awesome," Eiji said, patting the perpetually blushing Oishi on the back. "You are really in touch with your feelings, for a guy!"

"I have little sisters," Oishi explained, his nose still red.

"Mmmmmm…" Eiji hummed.

"So what are you going to do about the trip?" Oishi asked, pulling his knees up under his chin. The stars had come out, and Eiji looked up at them now.

"I don't know… I'm still upset about the whole thing… but knowing why I'm upset has really made it a lot better," he said. "I'm just glad that I have the friends that I do now. It will be nice, knowing that I'll have Fuji and Dina to come back to. And you Oishi. I'll be happy to come back to you."

"Well, why don't you just bring a couple of friends with you?" Oishi asked, he too looking up at the powdered sugar sky. "That way you won't be lonely, and you'll have friends with you that you actually want around."

It was like the stars had turned into the sun, after Oishi made his last statement.

Gone was Eiji's feeling of dread.

He now had a plan.

"Oishi, you are a genius!" Eiji shouted, hugging Oishi and then leaping to his feet. "That is the best idea ever!"

He held a hand up to the sky and made a pose of a heroic nature. "I'll ask my mother tomorrow, if you and Fuji can come!"

Oishi looked startled.

"Me?" Oishi nearly choked on spit.

"Of course you! I am going to bring friends, and why not invite my two best friends?"

Oishi's eyes widened. "I'm one of your best friends?" He looked shocked.

Eiji didn't know why the boy looked so shocked that he would have a best friend.

"Of course you are one of my best friends."

Though Eiji had been skeptical of talking to Oishi before, there was a connection between the two, an understanding of feelings that made the statement feel right.

Because at that moment, Eiji realized that he had always needed and dreamed of a friend like Oishi.

And he realized that shy Oishi needed a friend like him too.

* * *

_I tried to make this longer, because I feel like all of my chapters are really short._

_And sorry if the sentences and flow of the chapter seem a little bit choppy. I wrote this over a long stretch of time, so I might have forgotten what I wrote and rewrote it later on._

_All in all, I liked this chapter?_

_What did you think?_

_Review, please! I'll try to answer all of your other reviews at some point, but I've just got about a million things going on, and a whole bunch of very sad, and very bad news was dumped on me today, so I need to help people sort through some things. My time might be spent in different, very draining pursuits over the next few months! I will update when I next can!_

_I love you all! I feel like that is something that isn't said enough._


	18. Chapter 18

_Here I am starting. But I wonder what date it will be when I finish! That is the real question._

_I just choked on some gold fish._

_I need to go to my music class, but that class is NO FUN._

_I just took a Spanish test._

_I am very tired._

_The end._

* * *

**The Life and Times of Kikumaru Eiji**

Chapter Eighteen

_One is silver, but the other's gold._

* * *

The ride would be crowded on the way back, with his grandparents in the car, but on the ride up, Eiji was completely content. With Fuji looking out one window, and Oishi out the other, it was a silent, but comfortable car ride. Minoru had taken the front seat, next to his mother, since he would rather be with Eji and his mother than with his sisters and brother and his father. His father was upset that he was staying at his girlfriend's house, and Minoru didn't really want to talk to him about that.

And, Eiji guessed, there was some curiosity about Oishi. So far as the family knew, Fuji was Eiji's only friend. Eiji wasn't an over talker, so when he had asked his mother if he could bring two friends, she was too shocked to say no. Minoru kept looking into the rearview mirror at Oishi, who hadn't seemed to notice all of the attention he was getting.

For a few minutes into the car ride, Eiji was afraid that Oishi and Fuji weren't getting along. They weren't talking. And then he realized that both boys were just quiet boys. Their non-talking was a sign of comfort in their surroundings, which made Eiji relax.

Though it was hard to relax when he was sitting in the middle. Usually he slept on car rides, so he only now appreciated how long of a drive it was from his grandparents' house.

When he finally got out of the car, he was incredibly antsy.

It was also a bit of a surprise that they didn't pull up to their old house. He realized, as he pulled up to his grandparents' house that they couldn't go back to his old house, because it was sold. It made him a little bit sad, that he wouldn't be able to show Oishi and Fuji his old place. Where he had grown up. He could show them the outside, but a part of him wanted to show them the red of his room, and the steepness of the stairs and the way the kitchen looked out across the road, where his mom would watch for him to come home. Mostly, he just wanted to be back in his home though. Coming back to this town made him long for his old home, even if he liked his new home better.

Eiji's father was a speed demon, so he was already parked in front of the house. Eiji's siblings were inside, paying their required attention to their grandparents. Eiji noticed that they hadn't brought their bags inside, though, which meant that they were only going to be here for a little while. They didn't want to get stuck with their grandparents for longer than necessary. They loved their grandparents, but they would be living with them soon.

The real reason they were here was for their friends.

Eiji felt the porch stairs bend as he stepped up them, with Fuji and Oishi a few lingering steps behind. Pulling open the front door, he and the boys stepped into the house. It was bare of furnishings, save for the kitchen, which was piled full of half-empty boxes.

Eiji's view of the kitchen was obscured momentarily, as his grandfather enveloped him in a hug.

"Ah, Eiji!" He nearly growled, his voice so deep, Eiji wished that he could scrape some of the excess deepness off and give it to himself.

Eiji's grandfather held him at arm's length. "My, looks like you've been in a few tussles," he said, touching each band aid and the eye patch individually.

Eiji grinned, and put a hand over the patch. "Nya," he smiled. "I've only been in one."

"I hope you didn't get trounced!" Eiji's grandfather laughed. He looked over at Eiji's parents, and they shared eye contact that Eiji knew was for them only. He didn't understand it. But Eiji's grandpa moved aside then, and allowed Eiji to be wrapped up in a hug by his grandmother.

Only she didn't just bring Eiji into the hug. She brought Oishi and Fuji in as well.

"How are my grandbabies?" She asked, squeezing them so hard they nearly melded together.

Quick introductions were accomplished, and Oishi and Fuji were each given two or three more hugs, before the children were shooed out of the house. The parents began throwing things into boxes, and the Kikumaru children, honorary and real, quickly scooted out of the house before the adults decided that they actually wanted them there.

For the most part, the Kikumaru clan stuck together. They asked Oishi questions, and teased him for his haircut. Oishi blushed and explained that his sisters had cut off a chunk of his hair, and his mother had only been able to shave the bottom portion of his hair before she decided that she was no good at shaving.

But soon, as roads to friend's houses came, the group splintered off, until it was just Airi and Eiji and his friends walking in the middle of the road. Airi's friend lived on the other side of town, and Eiji wanted to show his friends his fort. He also hoped to take them past his old house, so that he could at least show them where he used to live. Where he grew up.

Airi, too, left them before too long. The town was a short and small one, a suburb and only a few houses with shops. With Airi gone, the boys were able to slip into an easy conversation. Oishi had clammed up around Eiji's siblings because of his shyness, but when it was just the three, he was more open. Eiji took this as encouraging. He wanted Oishi to like his family, but he wanted him to like Fuji better.

He wanted the three of them to be the golden trio.

"Thank you for inviting us," Oishi said, for the umpteenth time.

"No, really, you're doing me the biggest favor by coming," Eiji told them, walking backwards to look at both of them.

They both looked like they didn't believe him, but he didn't feel like explaining why he had brought friends and his siblings hadn't.

"So what all are we going to see today?" Fuji asked, brushing back his hair from his face. "Are we going to see this fort that I've heard so much about?"

"Fort?" Oishi asked, nose crinkling with confusion.

Fuji jumped into an elaborate portrayal of the fort, quoting Eiji's own words to Oishi. Eiji had to smile slightly. It seemed like Fuji was genuinely excited to see the fort.

Eiji was excited to see it to.

They took a few more steps, and crested a hill, and there was his house, and there was his fort, there at the end of the road. There was a swelling motion that he felt in his chest, like something had been warmed, and returned to his heart. Something that felt like family dinners or petting a dog. Seeing his house and his fort in that afternoon sun was so strongly normal he wondered what how he could have lived without them. And to be there with Oishi and Fuji. That might have been the warm part he was feeling.

"Is that were your fort is?" Oishi asked, eyes starting to glisten with the possibilities. Indeed, it was the only clump of bushes large enough to hold a fort, and it was the only empty street corner that they had seen so far on their walk.

Eiji nodded, a bit too much in awe of being back where he belonged to actually answer.

"Your old house is here, too, right?" Fuji asked softly, noticing that Eiji was having a bit of a hard time speaking.

Eiji led them to his old house, which looked odd to him, the driveway still had the same slant, but the two cars in it were different and there was an upright piano in one of the windows. And the window that Eiji's mother would always wait for him was filled with a plant. Obviously the new owners didn't have children that they looked out for.

"I think that I like your new house better," Fuji commented.

Oishi, who had only been to the Kikumaru Den a few times, didn't say anything, and Eiji was thankful for his silence.

"I wish you guys could see the inside of it," Eiji wished, but they had to pass by the house, without going inside.

They were, however, able to go into the fort. The bushes were overgrown, but that made the fort that much more exciting. It was awkward to navigate through the cardboard tunnel to the center, and for a few hysterical seconds, Eiji didn't know if he should have been brining Fuji and Oishi into the fort. It was, after all, his Ken and Jin's fort. But then, he decided, it had been _his_ fort before it had been _their_ fort. He could take anyone inside that he wanted.

It was good that it was afternoon outside, because the fort was dark. The extension cord had been removed, so the lamp wasn't working. But the carpet was still soft and the way the branches scratched the cardboard roof was very homey.

It was, however, very hard to see with only one eye uncovered. He looked at Oishi and Fuji as they looked around his fort, and for a moment, he was insecure and didn't know what they were thinking.

"This is amazing," Oishi said, clearly in awe.

"Are there any bushes near where we live that we could make a fort like this out of?" Fuji asked, just after Oishi finished.

"I wish there were, bushes like this, I mean," Eiji gushed, happy, once again, to be in his fort.

"We should find some bushes like this—" there was more scratching coming from outside, and Fuji cut off his words.

Eiji froze. Only a few people knew about this fort. And even if they didn't know about the fort, there were only two people that would ever dare to come into the fort.

"Oi, who's in here?" A voice yelled out, and Eiji relaxed.

Because as a face came around the bend, it was only Jin. Ken wasn't with him.

It took a while for Jin to recognize Eiji. Through the band aids and the eye patch and the now longer hair, he cut a strikingly different figure that the Kikumaru Jin had grown up with.

But there was only one family in the world with hair that deep of red, and before long, Jin was slapping Eiji on the back and berating him for not telling him that he was coming.

"You should have told me!" He kept saying, over and over.

Eiji introduced Fuji and Oishi to Jin, and he seemed pleased enough to accept Eiji's new friends. There was some awkwardness, because Eiji acted differently around Oishi and Fuji. In fact, when Eiji watched Fuji and Jin interact, he thought that his old friend even liked his new friends a little bit.

His initial fears assuaged, he allowed himself to fall back into the comfort of his old fort. It had been one of those long weeks. Between that scary Rei girl giving him calculating looks, and a few of her friends coming to bug him, he hadn't got much done. Plus he had been working all the time, and playing tennis. So it was understandable that, while Fuji and Jin talked, he and Oishi promptly fell asleep.

* * *

He was shaken awake by Fuji, who had his nose about a foot away from Eiji's only good eye.

"Jin say's that there's a tennis court not too far away from here," Fuji explained. Jin was crouched in front of the tunnel out of the fort, too tall to stand up fully. It didn't help that his bleach white hair was spiked up to look like the cleats on the bottom of football boots. Eiji remembered when his own hair was so extreme. Deep red and extremely short. He wondered if he shouldn't shear it back off.

"Shwa?" Was all Eiji could get off, while his sleep deprived mind focused more on Jin's hair than on what Fuji had just told him.

"Wake up Oishi!" Jin ordered. "Fuji's been telling me about how good you are at tennis, Kikumaru. I didn't think you were the sporty type—I want to see you in action." He ducked out from the fort, and Fuji went over to wake up Oishi.

He was just about as alert as Eiji was, and Eiji got the benefit of listening to Fuji explain what was happening, rather than Jin, who had always been too abrupt.

"Jin wants us to go play tennis." Fuji said, helping Oishi to stand. Of the three boys left in the fort, Oishi was the only one that had to crouch down to avoid the ceiling.

"Oh, I didn't bring my racquet," Oishi mumbled, rubbing a spot on his head where a leaf from the brush had poked through his brill-o-like hair.

"I brought mine," Fuji exclaimed, and Eiji nodded, stating without words that he too had brought his racquet.

"I brought an extra one," he stated, patting Oishi on the shoulder. "I've got you covered, man," He winked, and Oishi rolled his eyes.

"Are you guys coming?" Jin yelled, and the three boys scrambled out of the fort just as fast as they could.

* * *

"Fuji tells me that you all go to Seigaku Middle?" Jin asked, as the four stepped onto the court. It was a rusty old place, where there were more holes in the chain-link than there was chain-link and Eiji could have counted the number of birthdays he had had in the cracks in the pavement. But it was a court none the less, and it looked like a new net had been installed at the beginning of the summer.

"Yes," Eiji stated, not sure where Jin was going with this idea.

"Do you know a… Kawmara?" Jin asked, rolling the name around on his tongue like he wasn't sure if it was right.

"Err…" Eiji didn't know who in the world Jin could have been talking about. "No... Why?"

"No reason," Jin said, though the way he said it meant that there was some reason he was asking. "There is just a kid at my dojo that I thought might go to your school. It's a bit of a far drive though."

Eiji thought that teaching Jin how to fight properly might not have been the best idea that Jin's mother could have come up with. Then again, Jin's mother wasn't known to make the brightest decisions concerning her child. Or anything for that matter.

"Kawmara…" Oishi said under his breath, but Eiji had already stepped ahead to play on the opposite side of the net.

The boys ended up playing Fuji and Jin against Oishi and Eiji. The spoken reason they played this way was because Eiji and Oishi had promised to always be doubles partners. But the unspoken agreement between the three Seigaku boys was that Fuji was the best player, and he would help Jin out.

But, as it turned out, Jin picked up on tennis quite easily. There was the easy lope to his play, and he held the racquet very loosely in his hand. He was a natural, and for that Eiji would have been jealous, if he hadn't been having such a good time playing with his friends.

Jin, though cautious in play at first, soon picked up, and became a more aggressive player. Eiji felt that this typified everything that Jin had ever done. Soon, the boys had a vigorous game of tennis going, with the Fuji –Jin paring ultimately winning. Fuji was just too good, and Jin too quick. Granted, Jin hit the ball out nearly every time, but so did Eiji, with his one eye and terrible depth perception.

As the game drew to a close, the sun started to slant into the boys' eyes. Eiji hadn't noticed how long he had been out. He wondered if his parents worried where he was, but found himself enjoying himself too much to care much past that. Still, it was getting too dark and too hard to see, to play another set, so the boys tucked their racquets under their elbows and started wandering home.

Jin hung back a bit, a confused look on his face. An old man was puttering around the empty field next to the tennis courts.

"Oi, old man, what are you doing?" He shouted gruffly.

Startled, Eiji turned around swiftly, and rammed his tennis racquet into Oishi's ribs. Oishi _oof_-ed, and all of his supplies tumbled out of his hands. Eiji leaned down to pick them up, apologizing, and then cursing when he saw that the ball was rolling down a hill.

"I'm measuring," the old man stated, holding up a measuring tape. Eiji didn't get to hear the end of the conversation, as he scrambled down the hill after the ball.

Instead of finding it at the bottom of the hill, he found it flying toward his face. He snatched it out of the air before it hit and injured his remaining good eye.

"Oh, sorry!" A voice called. "Lucky catch."

Eiji, who was busy blinking tears or surprise out of his eye, looked around, startled for the near hundredth time that day.

His eyes landed on a boy with orange hair and a fox like smile. "I figured it was yours. Not many people scramble down a hill like that for now reason." He smiled wider, and winked.

He started to walk off, all leg and flaming hair, before he turned back to face Eiji. "You might want to stop your friend from yelling at that old man. It's not very nice." He pouted, waved, and then walked off.

Eiji didn't spend much time contemplating the ginger boy, but hustled up the hill. Jin and the old man had come to a stare off while Oishi and Fuji stood off to the side, watching the interchange like they would watch a tennis match.

"Got the ball," Eiji shouted, loud on purpose, to break the staring match. "Let's go. My grandma will want us home soon."

* * *

_This is way overdue, I know. Since the time I wrote my beginning A/N, I have had ANOTHER Spanish test… It's obviously been a long time, so I'm sorry… I find myself apologizing a lot… I need to stop apologizing and just write._

_I actually do write quite a lot. I'm doing NaNoWrMo—a nice excuse to write—on a story I've been think of for forever. So I have been writing… Just not this story. D:_

_Did you enjoy all the Easter-eggs I put in this chapter? :3 I hope that I got the facts right. I haven't watched nor read POT in a while. This chapter required a lot of research! There were 2 cameos… though only one of the "cameos" actually fit the bill for a cameo. _

_Which two cannon characters made an appearance? C: _

_About updating: You'll probably hear from me sooner than later, because finals start beginning of next month, so I'll have unlimited free time after the 14__th__ of December. This is exciting. I'm also really sorry that I haven't gotten around to answering your reviews. I read them, I love them, and I think "I'll answer that after I get done with my homework." But homework never ends._

_I'll try for this chapter!_

_Loves!_


	19. Chapter 19

_Should be writing my paper. Instead I am writing a chapter. Be proud kidlets. That's that happens when you become a master procrastinator like myself. You don't even feel bad about procrastinating anymore. Then again, I only have 10 minutes before I have to start getting ready for work, so... I wouldn't get anything done anyway._

_I have two weeks of exams, then I am finished with school until the… fifth I think. Huzzah!_

_It is questionable if I will write, because I will probably be sleeping from the 15th to the 5th… I'll see you then I guess. C:_

_Speaking of guessing: all of you guessed right. Jin and Sengoku were the two guest characters last chapter. By making Jin the Jin we all know and love, I was able to accomplish three things._

_**Number One**: Indirectly characterize Eiji so that you see who he used to hang out with and how bad a herd he ran with… And the fact that Jin is the mellow one is saying something._

_**Number Two**: Gave Eiji an old, canon allowable town._

_**Numero Tres**: Reduced the astronomical number of OCs in this story by one. (Glad I could do that.)_

* * *

**The Life and Times of Kikumaru Eiji**

Chapter Nineteen

_Let's see how far we've come._

_-Matchbox Twenty_

Dedicated to newslove.

* * *

Before long, it was actually cold at Seigaku Middle school.

And with the end of warmth, came the end of the tennis season. There were still practices in the morning, but they were half hearted things because matches were over. Practice, in and of itself, was a formality—the captain kept it around to say that he was making the boys work. But really the boys ran around in the morning to keep warm, while the captain worked with a boy Eiji's age on his stroke work.

The boy was Fuji's friend, a kid named Tezuka, and Eiji didn't like him that much. There was something about him that was… arrogant. There were whispered rumors that he was a left-handed player, but as his left arm was in a cast and he seemed perfectly able to play with his right hand, Eiji didn't hold much stock in what his gossip happy classmates had to say about the boy. The captain paid attention to Tezuka, which made it so that Eiji could goof off at tennis practice, which was good enough for him.

Still, there was some lingering curiosity about the boy. But when he asked Fuji and Oishi—people he trusted to tell the truth—he didn't get much information. Fuji told him that they had played once, and Fuji had won, but the unhappy look on Fuji's face told Eiji not to question any farther. Oishi just said that he was an awesome player, but he too discussed no farther.

Convinced that Tezuka wasn't going to steal his two best friends away, Eiji was content to let the matter of Tezuka lie.

Without tennis, and without working at the pet shop, his life moved surprisingly quickly. Before he knew it, the first half of school was over, and so was the year. For a gift, he got his mother a bird, which she loved for some reason. He got it for free. His old boss handed it to him one day went in to visit his favorite turtles, and there weren't even words said. For a gift, the rest f the Kikumaru children took trips to the dentist for assorted dental work. Eiji, in the end, was the only Kikumaru child that wasn't groaning because of oral numbness, or replaced teeth. He discovered then a love for keeping his teeth especially clean and tartar free.

Around Valentine's day, Eiji noticed a few strange things start to happen. The girls got quiet around him and started moving in packs, and the boys started shooting each other evil looks. Eiji, oblivious to the terror that was February Fourteenth spent a few shell shocked days, wondering while all of his male classmates were suddenly swapping bets and up-talking their own manliness. It wasn't until a large package from Minoru's girlfriend appeared that Eiji remembered what February meant. It meant that girls would be sneaking around you desk and trying to slip chocolate into your desk or into your locker. It meant that the trash cans would be filled with ribbons and miniature cardboard boxes.

Eiji wondered if this year he would get any chocolate. He hadn't in years past, but he had refused to let it bother him. Chocolate was for wimps.

As February Fourteenth approached, and his sisters bought chocolates for the boys in their classes, Eiji found himself thinking chocolate was cooler and cooler.

* * *

Eiji did find some chocolates in his desk, come the morning of Valentine's Day. Quite a few, though nowhere near as much as Fuji. He hadn't expected to. Fuji had aloofness going for him, which girls found mysterious. Still, the seven boxes of chocolate were seven more than he had ever received.

The girl, Rei, who sat in front of him, turned to him as he began to stack his chocolates.

"You've got a lot of chocolates there," she began conversationally.

"Yosh, indeed I do!" Eiji cheered. "Did you give me one Aida-chan?" He hadn't looked at the tags of who they came from. The chocolate was alright, but the fact that it had come from girls was a little bit embarrassing.

Rei raised her eyebrows, one after the other. "Hardly. Sorry Kikumaru-kun. I don't buy into chocolates and Valentine's Day."

Eiji copied her eyebrow raise. "You mean you didn't give chocolates to anyone?"

"No," she said, all tough, but a smattering of red crossed over her cheeks that told a different story.

"Oh-ho!" Eiji cheered. "Who has caught Aida-chan's eye?"

Rei looked levelly at Eiji, all traces of her blush gone, and Eiji sobered up his face. "I'm sorry," He muttered.

Rei grinned again, and Eiji knew he was off the hook. "Hey, listen. My friend wanted me to give this to you," She said, holding up a small box. "She isn't in our class, but she's been admiring you from a distance." She wiggled her eyebrows, and Eiji blanched, looking at them.

"It isn't… it isn't your friend—you know, the one with the missing eyebrows, right, and the band aids, right?" He recalled her from the first day of school when he had first seen her standing with Rei. Their toughness had given him some hope for the school—that not everyone was a drone in black or green—but now the idea of the girl with the shiner just scared him.

Rei looked at Eiji's face and seemed to ask him how he could be judgmental of a girl with band aids when his own face looked like a hodgepodge collection of band-aids and bruising. "No, it's not Rin. It's Miki. She's on the girl's tennis team."

A memory popped up in Eiji's brain. A tennis ball rolling toward him, bright pink, which he threw back to a girl. "Does she use pink tennis balls?"

"Yes, that is her." She placed the box of chocolates on the desk. "This is from her."

She reached down into her bag, and placed another thing on Eiji's desk.

"And this is from me. I told you—I don't take much stock in chocolates." She winked at him, and then turned back around as class began.

She had given him a tennis ball. There was a picture of a cat, which, upon closer inspection, looked a lot like Eiji. Eiji silently snickered to himself.

* * *

Oishi got a surprisingly large haul of chocolate as well. As he, Eiji and Fuji walked to the tennis courts to meet Dina, they compared boxes. Fuji got the most—a box from nearly every girl in the class and a few from outside. Eiji saw a tennis ball in the bottom of Fuji's backpack and wondered if maybe Rei had given it to him. Fuji already seemed embarrassed enough about his load of candy, so Eiji didn't ask.

Oishi and Eiji had gotten pretty much the same amount of chocolate. The same boxes from the girls who gave everyone chocolates. Oishi got a lot of boxes from the girls in his class—he was surprisingly popular, for how quiet he was. Eiji was interested to know what girls thought about Oishi's hair, but didn't dare voice his feelings aloud.

Dina was on court two, with her hands behind her back. As Eiji and his friends approached, she stood up on her toes, and bobbed her head. She was counting them.

"Yosh! Eiji! Fuji!" She said as they came up. "Oishi!" Oishi and Dina weren't as good of friends as Eiji, Fuji and Dina were, but the two had met on occasion and were nice enough to each other. Oishi was just shy around girls, and Dina loved hanging around with Fuji and Eiji, so they remained polite friends.

Dina handed Eiji and Oishi boxes of chocolates and reached into her bag for Fuji's. Her eyebrows knit, and she found herself patting the bottom of an empty bag.

"Saa…" Dina said, a habit she had picked up from Fuji. "Fuji, I seem to have left your chocolates at school."

She looked at him with sad eyes. Then her eyes brightened. "Ah, I have extras at my house. Come with me and get them."

Fuji's eyes nearly opened in surprise, and he looked over to Eiji. He had been planning on going over to Eiji's house for a red themed dinner—a Kikumaru tradition—with Oishi and the family, but it looked like he really wanted the chocolates. Eiji didn't blame him. As he looked down through the paper wrapping, he saw that they were the kind with coconut.

"Go right ahead!" Eiji pushed Fuji towards Dina. "The chocolates look delicious. You can meet me back at my house later. Oishi and I will go on ahead. It'll be better this way anyway. That way we won't have to fight my brothers for their video game controllers."

Eiji and Oishi smiled and waved as Fuji and Dina set off for Dina's house.

They waved, until Fuji was at the bottom of the hill and out of sight. Then they lowered their arms and looked at each other.

"Dina gave me Fuji's chocolates, didn't she," Oishi muttered.

Eiji nodded. He had figured that had been what happened. Dina was too nice to make Oishi feel awkward about not getting chocolates while the other two had. What she hadn't counted on was making him feel awkward when he found out.

"Oh well," Oishi said, his face red. He popped the chocolate in his mouth. "I don't regret it one bit. This chocolate is delicious."

Oishi's red face matched the rest of the family's dinner. Everything was red. The punch was red, the rice was red, the meat was red. The family had red hair, and Oishi and Isamu both had red faces—Isamu now had a girlfriend, which made the Kikumaru clan laugh uproariously for a few minutes at his expense. He was good natured about their laughing, and sat there, the color of a stoplight for a few minutes before the rest of the family punched him a few times and went on to teasing Airi for finally giving out chocolates.

Fuji walked in halfway through dinner. He had been gone a long time, and said something about Dina's family insisting he stay for dinner. But, he said, he had made sure to save room for Red Dinner because that had been his original plan for the evening. And so a chair was squeezed in around the table, between Mr. Kikumaru and Michi and Grandma Kikumaru made sure that Fuji ate second helpings.

And for not the first time since the Kikumaru family had moved into the Den, Eiji was very glad he had the family he did.

Even though it was school the next day, Fuji ended up spending the night. Oishi's mother came to get Oishi around 8:30, but Fuji's parents never came. He had planned on walking home, he had said, but the Kikumaru parents and grandparents would think nothing of it. Eiji had a bunk bed for a reason, they said, and it did no good for Fuji to have a second stash of clothing at The Den if he never used it. And so, before long, the two boys were tucked up in Eiji's room and whispering secrets.

Eiji wanted to know all about Dina's house. Fuji was the first one to go there, and he was eager to share. Eiji had put Dina's box of chocolates up on his dresser and he looked at it as Fuji described Dina's house and her parents, and Eiji was glad that Fuji had been there before him. He would have been nervous to go there all by himself. Fuji said that Dina didn't have any siblings and her parents had had the kids help them cook dinner. This made Eiji extra glad that he hadn't gone—he didn't know how to cook and would have made a fool of himself in front of Dina.

The only thing that made him wish he had been able to go was the fact that Fuji made it sound so fun to go there. Eiji had been Dina's friend first, and while he was fine sharing her with Fuji, he wanted the _three_ of them to be friends, not the two of them, and then him. He wasn't sure who he was afraid of losing more—Dina, his first friend, or Fuji, his best friend.

In the end, he decided, as he flipped over his pillow, he decided it didn't matter who he was more afraid of losing. He just wanted to keep them both.

* * *

Eiji finally met Miki that next day at school. She was sitting on Rei's desk, giggling and throwing paper at her. As Eiji approached, she got a bit quieter, and her eyes got wide.

Eiji raised an eyebrow at Rei, who rolled her eyes.

_Who is this?_ Eiji's eyebrow asked.

_You'll see soon enough,_ Rei's rolled eyes answered.

"Kikumaru-san!" Miki said. "Did you like my chocolates?"

_Hmm_… Girl he didn't know.

A mention of chocolates.

It clicked in Eiji's brain.

"You must be Miki!" He said, grinning his own brand of winning smile. He held out a hand. "Your chocolates were delicious. I ate them last night."

They had been delicious. He had eaten them last night. Along with most of the other chocolates. But he did remember hers. They had had raspberry in them.

Miki didn't even blush as she took Eiji's hand. "You remembered!" she said, shaking Eiji's hand forcefully. Eiji shook it right back, and before long they were having a sort of tug-of-war going on between them.

Rei karate chopped between the two of them, telling them that their jerking motions were messing with her peripheral vision. Eiji and Miki gave her scathing looks, and continued to talk about school and how raspberry and coconut were the best flavors for chocolate fillings. Five minutes before the bell rang, she left, but only asking Eiji if he wanted to play tennis at lunch. Eiji said he would see what he could do, but he usually ate lunch with Oishi and Fuji. Miki grinned and winked at him, and told him not to worry about it.

When she left, boys started swarming around Eiji's desk.

"How do you know her?"

"You're friends with her?"

"Dude. Awesome man. You didn't tell me you got chocolates from Tanaka Miki!"

New to the school, and thus not in the know about who was who on campus, Eiji was confused. But not for long, because the boys filled him in on all the things he should know about Miki. Miki was a girl, but not just any girl—she was a transfer from Hyotei and rumored to be friends with Atobe Keigo. Eiji knew Dina was from Hyotei and she was proud of her school. Eiji had no idea who this Atobe Keigo was, but from the reverent way that the boys said his name, he was some sort of hot shot. So, Miki being friends with him made her even more big a deal. She was already very pretty and very nice as well…

When Eiji confessed to the boys that Miki had asked to play tennis with him, the boys were shocked to hear that he had turned her down.

"You've gotta go play with her man!"

"How could you turn a face like that down!"

"I still can't believe you got chocolates from her!"

And so, with a great deal of urging from his classmates, Eiji spent lunch with Tanaka Miki.

* * *

_Filler chapter—not really. Plot development—oh yes._

_Really, I'm not trying to flood your life with OC after OC. But if Eiji is to be popular, he needs friends. I also have this strange obsession with naming things. So when these two needs collide—Eiji having friends; my insatiable need to name things—you get a world filled with OCs_

_I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I try to remind you guys that Eiji is only in 7th grade. It's hard to write about kids that age. When you're 12 you think you're so old, but you're really not (sorry to any of my 12 year-old readers?...) so it's interesting to write from his point of view. I have to write a kid who thinks he's grown up, while still remembering that he is a little kid and trying to portray that to the audience. I hate it when people write five-year-old characters who use words like: "connotation" and "antidisestablishmentarianism." (a real word. I learned it on **Arthur**.) I've tried to keep Eiji young, though I have slipped up a few times…._

_Sorry about the long time updating too… I realized once one of the stories I read updated twice that I hadn't updated a single time and I felt bad. I just didn't know what I wanted to happen in this chapter. I was originally going to have this story only cover his first year of middle school, but the way I was planning on having it end wouldn't have made any sense once the Ryoma arch began. Plus, we still haven't covered any of the Fuji drama that I have planned. C;_

_Review please! Let me know I'm not such a loser for taking this long!_


	20. Chapter 20

_I'm the worst, I'm the worst, I'm the worst, I know. It's been forever since I've written, and for that I will place no blame. Instead, I will start writing this chapter and hopefully write next weekend, as that is my Summer break. See, I didn't even write over Christmas break or Spring break or Easter holiday. What a lame child I am._

_The quote at the beginning of the chapter is the lyrics of the song I am currently listening to. That's what I'm going to do from here on out. There is absolutely no meaning behind it. I am just a stickler for format, and that's what I've been doing for forever—I have to have a quote. So you get random quotes! Woot woot!_

* * *

**The Life and Times of Kikumaru Eiji**

Chapter Twenty

_Take me to your best friend's house_  
_Goin' 'round this roundabout_  
_Oh yeahTake me to your best friend's house_  
_I loved you then and I love you now_  
_Oh yeah_

* * *

Fuji helped Eiji pick out the bird. It was a green bird, and it liked talking a lot, and the owner of Animal Earth—for all he loved animals—was excited to get rid of the chatty thing. For Eiji's service—obligatory as it was—the owner threw in the cage that the bird lived in, and a whole bunch of bird feed for free. He cited Eiji's excellent character for the reason the gift was free. Eiji suspected he was just tired of the bird, but it didn't matter. The gift was free, and his mother deserved it.

Life had become hectic for the Kikumaru Clan, ever since Eiji's grandparents moved into his house. Gone were the days of it being a seven person household. Now dinner usually involved the five Kikumaru children, the two Kikumaru parents, and the two Kikumaru grandparents, along with Fuji and another friend and sometimes Miki.

For Miki Tanaka was now a regular part of Eiji's life. He still ate lunch with Fuji and Oishi, but sometimes he would go sit with Miki and her friends during lunch. Fuji was over at Eiji's house enough, and Oishi was surprisingly busy with student council—an odd sort of job for a boy so shy—so Eiji didn't feel too terrible when he ditched the two of them to go hang out with Miki. There was nothing going on between the two of them—he and Miki—and both Oishi and Fuji were friends with Tezuka, so they could go hang out with him if they wanted. Eiji was just glad to have a girl for a friend, and Miki was the perfect girl to have as a friend—she had lots of other friends, and slowly but surely, those friends of hers became Eiji's friends, too.

Eiji woke up the morning of the first day of golden week to the sun streaming like ribbon through his blinds. It was morning enough that the sun warmed his bed, but early enough that there was still the residual chill of night time. Eiji laid in his bed for a few seconds, completely content to let the sun linger on his skin as he lingered on the fact that he was free from school for a whole week.

Before long, the act of holding still became too much, so he arose, called Miki's house and told her butler that he would be along shortly. Miki had wanted to play tennis, but Eiji decided that it might be a good idea to shower before the match, just in case… well, he wasn't sure why, but showering seemed like a good idea.

Miki's house, as always, was an impressive sight. It sat up on a hill, for starters, and was entirely made of river rock and weathered wood. There was a circular drive and a basketball hoop on the side of the house for Miki's older brothers or for the kitchen staff. There was also a large set of monkey bars Eiji busied himself with while he waited for Miki to scamper forth from her house.

Before long, the two of them were biking down the hill to the park to play tennis, Eiji carrying both of their tennis bags on his back. Eiji thought of the long, arduous trip it would be back up the hill on the way home, and sighed, but decided that such a trip would be worth it if he were to be able to hang out with Miki all day and play tennis.

They arrived at court two and found it being used. Eiji was about to complain that someone was using _his_ court, but didn't have time as Miki stepped forward, her long brown hair all shimmery and beautiful, and called out greetings to the people on the court.

"Ah!" She cried out, eyes crinkling at the corners. "Fuji! Dina! Fancy meeting you here!"

Fuji and Dina both called out greetings in return, though they did not seem as happy to see Miki as she was to see them.

Befuddled that Fuji and Dina were already playing tennis—and without him, too—Eiji too joined the kids on the court. "Fuji! Dina!" He too greeted. His stomach did that weird flipping-burning motion, like someone had flipped it over on a grill, that it always did when he saw Dina.

"Ah, Eiji!" they both said at the same time.

"How do you know Dina?" Fuji asked Miki, who had taken her bag from Eiji and was now unzipping it.

"We went to Elementary school together." Miki explained. "I was supposed to go to middle school with her, but my Father got me into Seigaku instead."

That seemed rather backwards to Eiji. Everyone knew that Hyotei was the better funded, far more beautiful school that people tried to get in to. No one in their right mind would fight to get their child _out_ of that school, but Miki was unique, so her parents must have been also. It seemed that Fuji, too, was confused about why in the world Miki was going to Seigaku, but Dina seemed perfectly at ease with Miki's statement.

"Mind if we join you?" Miki rose from her crouching position, and tucked a tennis ball into the spandex of her shorts. "Me and Eiji versus you and Fuji?"

Dina didn't seem opposed to the idea, and as Fuji walked over to her side, Eiji joined Miki to begin a game of doubles.

After a few matches and a few hours, Fuji and Dina excused themselves and packed up their things. As they walked off toward the exit of the park, Eiji watched them leave very carefully. Miki seemed unperturbed by the proceedings, and accidentally hit Eiji on the head with a tennis ball when she served and he wasn't paying attention.

"Eiji dear," she shouted, and Eiji turned around. "We're playing!"

Eiji turned around to face her, and shook his head clear.

* * *

Eiji decided it was the gentlemanly thing to do, and bought Miki's milkshake for her. Her family was well enough off that one milkshake would have been no problem at all, but he was the man, and thus was required to pay for the food. Miki squealed, and gave him a hug of thanks.

"You really didn't have to do that, Eiji dear," Miki gushed, genuinely pleased as Eiji handed over a few crumpled bills.

Eiji beamed at her. "Oh, but I did! I'm a gentleman!"

Miki grinned, and waited for Eiji to collect their shakes before going to sit at a table by the window. Eiji licked the whipped cream off of the top of his shake and came to the realization that sweet things were amazing and that the whole day had been amazing.

Except for one thing.

"Now they would make an adorable couple," Miki said, contemplating the outside world from over the rim of her large milkshake.

Eiji, who had been concentrating on mixing his whipped cream into his shake, had no idea what she was talking about. He followed her line of sight, and saw what she was looking at.

Fuij and Dina were coming out of the sporting-goods store, laughing. They looked both ways, before quickly darting across the street. They were coming to the same ice cream shop that Miki and Eiji were at. Eiji didn't know how he felt about that. And what Miki had said.

"Why do you say that?" He asked, curious as to why Fuji and Dina made a good couple.

"They both have very pretty eyes," Miki said, waving to Fuji and Dina, who waved back. Dina pointed to the cash register, and then to the place where Miki and Eiji were sitting, before turning back to Fuji. Her meaning was clear. They would order their food, and then come sit.

Fuji, too, paid for Dina's food. Eiji, for some reason, did not like the idea of Fuji being a gentleman. That was his job.

Dina sat beside him, in the empty chair, which made Eiji's stomach wiggle a bit. It made it easier, too, to slurp sips of her milkshake, when she wasn't looking because it was funny to see the look on her face when she found out. The four of them were there together like the best of friends, laughing and joking—even Fuji cracked a few jokes, and so for a while Eiji forgot that Dina and Fuji just happened to meet them there. When the laughing and gasping and side clenching died down, Dina wiped her eyes as she checked her watch. Those big eyes became extra wide when she realized the time.

"Fuji!" she looked up at him sharply. She extended the arm with the watch on it, and Fuji, too, looked at the clock. Though his eyes didn't open, he immediately stood up and gathered his things.

"Sorry!" Dina said, throwing her tennis bag over her shoulder. "We've got to rocket. It was a great day to spend with you!"

With that cryptic, but warm farewell, Fuji and Dina exited the shop and scurried down the sidewalk back towards the residential part of town.

With a few hours before dinner, Eiji and Miki had nothing left to do but return to the park. Neither were really feeling the desire to play tennis, so instead the perched themselves on the park swings and propelled themselves back and forth with the tips of their toes.

"Do I have pretty eyes?" Eiji asked, very suddenly. And feeling very girly and un-masculine after doing so.

Miki contemplated his eyes for a second, and then grinned and nodded. "Very," She stated. "What about me?"

She blinked at him—the eye's natural reaction to the command "Stay open"—and Eiji looked at her eyes. He had never considered them before but decided "Yes, they're very nice."

Then he went on to his next point. "Since I have pretty eyes, would you say that I could make a good couple with Dina?"

Miki laughed. "Oh, I'd never really thought about that before."

Eiji laughed too, but on the inside he decided that if eyes were the only thing that made a couple, he had as much a chance with Dina as Fuji did.

* * *

Dina was not at home. Eiji tried calling her the next morning to arrange a time to hang out, but the four times that he called her—he spaced them out; he wasn't that desperate for her company—ended on her family answering machine all four times.

Dejectedly, he waited for Fuji to show up. It was golden week, and since there was no school, Fuji was sure to arrive at some point. He had known that Eiji was going to hang out with Miki that Monday, which is why he must have arranged to hang out with Dina. If Eiji wasn't available, he needed someone else to hang out with—though Eiji was slightly curious as to why Tezuka hadn't been his first choice.

The day dragged on, and Eiji cleaned his room.

The day dragged on and Eiji played video games with his brothers

The day dragged on and Eiji helped his mother carry in groceries when she came home from work.

The day ended with Eiji inviting Oishi to dinner, and to sleep over. Minoru, too, had a friend over, but Isamu and Airi were both over at other houses, so the table wasn't overflowing like it usually was. Grandma Kikumaru asked after Fuji, but that was the only recognition given to the fact that the casually smiling boy wasn't at his usual spot at the table. Inu, the dog, seemed upset, because usually Fuji snuck him scraps under the table, but no one in the Kikumaru family knew that little secret—aside from Eiji—so his odd behavior was written off as indigestion and he was sent outside.

With Oishi over, Eiji was able to overlook the feelings of misgivings that he was having about Fuji not being at his house. Oishi slept on the top bunk, only falling asleep after he pelted Eiji from above with all of the socks he had been able to nick out of Eiji's sock drawer. Eiji plotted his revenge from below, and fell asleep.

In the morning of the third day of Golden Week, Oishi decided that it would be a good idea to try to cook breakfast for the family—and by the family, he meant the remaining Kikumaru children and guest and the grandparents. Grandma Kikumaru, when she found the boys balancing mixing bowls in the kitchen, decided to lend a hand, and wrapped the boys up in aprons. This was a stellar idea to both Eiji and Oishi, who had just decided that cooking was out of their talent sphere and were about to open a whole bunch of poptarts and put them on a plate. Maybe in a nice pattern.

Before long, the smell of food began to permeate the house, and Eiji found himself up to his elbows in bubbles as he washed a skillet.

"Oishi," He stated, mounding more bubbles up on top of each other to see how tall they would go.

Oishi had just returned from putting a wooden spoon away, and began helping him with this bubble tower.

"Yeah?" Oishi asked, adding more to the base for support.

"Did Fuji mention that his dad was coming home at any point?" Eiji asked, beginning to scrub the skillet again when he saw his grandmother watching him.

Oishi paused in his stabilization of the bubble tower and contemplated the question. He rubbed his chin while he thought and bubble stuck to his chin. When Eiji's grandmother left the kitchen to awaken her grandchildren, Eiji pulled down his tower and stuck it under his lip in a mustache-esque fashion.

Oishi laughed, and smeared some bubbles on his own upper lip. "Not that I can think of." He stated. "Why?"

"Because usually he spends his free time here," Eiji answered, beginning to scrub again, thoughtfully. "The only time he isn't over here is when his dad is here… and since it's Golden Week and he isn't here, I thought it might be because his dad was home."

Oishi—without a job until Eiji finished washing the skillet so he could dry it—put more bubbles on his face. "Well, a lot of the time his dad comes home without warning. So that could be what happened."

"Looking slick," Minoru said from behind. Eiji and Oishi jumped, startled at the sudden appearance of the middle Kikumaru brother and his friend who was pulling a shirt over his head. Minoru scooped up a fistful of the bubbles and smacked them onto his friend's face once the shirt was settled on his sholders.

From there, a bubble fight proceeded, the crossfire of which Michi was very unlucky to walk into. She hadn't showered, Minoru said, so she was fine. Instead of launching bubbles at her brother, she picked up a handful of dishwater and landed the liquid right in the middle of his head.

"You haven't showered yet, either, so it's okay." She huffed, as her twin looked at her in shock. Minoru's friend scooped some bubbles off of the floor and planted them on Minoru's red hair.

"She's right, you know," he said, and joined Michi in dishing food into his bowl.

The skillet laid forgotten in the kitchen sink as Eiji and Oishi joined in on the line for food.

When grandma came back into the kitchen and found it turned to a veritable swamp, she gathered her broom and, rather than sweeping up the water, she hit her oldest grandchildren round the ankles until they moved to get the place cleaned up. Michi and Minoru complained and explained to their grandmother that the puddles were just melted soap bubbles; keeping them on the floor was making it cleaner already, to which grandma countered with more swating around the ankles.

From above his food dish, Eiji let his eyes smile at Oishi and Minoru's friend. The two wiggled their eyes conspiratorially back at him.

All thoughts of Fuji had fled his mind.

Instead, Eiji focused his energy on slurping his breakfast as loud as he could. He was rewarded with stink-eyes from his two older siblings.

* * *

_I don't know why it took me that long to write that chapter. That chapter came especially easily to me. It only took me a half hour or so to write. I'm super lame. I'll try to do better about updating in the future… but every time I say that, I end up never writing for five months. So maybe I'll stop… oh well._

_I hope you enjoyed it! IT was a bit shorter than other chapters, but I liked this chapter. I think I've finally mastered Eiji's character. Let me know if you think differently. I want to make sure that I make him a true replication. It's been… uh… FOREVER since I've actually seen POT, so I might have gotten a few things wrong._

_As I am ultra lazy, this is COMPLETELY unedited. I'm just posting as-is!_


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